The interleukin-12 and interleukin-12 receptor system in normal and transformed human B lymphocytes.

Abstract

Taken together, the studies herein reviewed indicate that human B-cells, at variance with their murine counterparts, can produce IL-12 following CD40 ligation. IL-12 p35 and p40 transcripts are found in B-cells from different lymphoproliferative disorders, but the evidence that the cytokine is produced at the protein level is poor. IL-12R is expressed in the main human B-cell subsets, but it is functional only in naive B-cells. Finally, the failure of transformed B-cell lines to express IL-12Rb2 mRNA opens up new perspectives in the investigation of B-cell malignant transformation.