Effect of interleukin 1 on human thymocytes and purified human T cells.

Human Interleukin 1 (IL-1) purified by molecular weight fractionation, isoelectric focusing, and gel electrophoresis has been tested on human thymocytes and highly purified human T cells. IL-1 prepared in this manner could not support the long-term growth of T cells yet would augment lectin-stimulated mitogenesis. The IL-1 preparations were shown to possess the lectin-augmenting activity at dilutions containing less than 1 ng of the measurable protein. These data are in agreement with the model that IL-1 stimulates production of IL-2 from lectin-stimulated lymphocytes.