The expression of RNA for interleukin (IL) -9, -10 and -12, interferon gamma (IFN-gamma), transforming growth factor beta one (TGF-beta1), macrophage inflammatory protein one alpha (MIP-1alpha) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in a panel of human T leukemia cell lines at various stages of differentiation, and normal thymocytes was examined using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Fourteen of 16 T cell lines expressed the gene for TGF-beta1 and 12 of the cell lines also expressed the gene for GM-CSF. None of the 5 normal thymocyte samples constitutively expressed RNA for TGF-beta1 or GM-CSF. One cell line established from a patient with adult T cell leukemia (ATL), ED-S-, expressed the genes for TGF-beta1, GM-CSF, IL-10, IL-12, IFN-gamma and MIP-1alpha. IL-9 was not expressed by any cell line, IL-10 was expressed by only three cell lines and IL-12 was expressed by only two cell lines. The production of immunosuppressive factors such as TGF-beta1 by T leukemic cells is a possible mechanism for the clinical progression of this disease.

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