[The influence of C-reactive protein and its subunits on the cytotoxic effect of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in relation to L929 fibroblasts].

A study was made of the ability of purified human C-reactive protein (CRP) in pentameric (pCRP) and subunit (sCRP) form to induce the production of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) in macrophage-like cell line P388D1, as well as the combined effects of CRP and recombinant human TNF-alpha on the proliferation of L929 cell line. Both pCRP and sCRP induced TNF production by P388D1 cells, pCRP was inhibitory per se for L929 cells, while sCRP was not, when present in cultures for 72 h without actinomycin D (AD). In the presence of AD, sCRP was inhibitory as well, even when the period of incubation was reduced to 18 h.