TUMOR-NECROSIS-FACTOR-ALPHA AND INTERLEUKIN-6 MESSENGER-RNA EXPRESSION IN NEONATAL LEWIS RAT SCHWANN-CELLS AND A NEONATAL RAT SCHWANN-CELL LINE FOLLOWING INTERFERON-GAMMA STIMULATION

There is increasing evidence that Schwann cells play an important role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune inflammatory peripheral nerve disea se. Schwann cells have been reported to express major histocompatibili ty complex class I and II (MHC I and II) and intercellular adhesion mo lecule-1 (ICAM-1), and to produce interleukin-1 (IL-1), prostaglandin E2 and thromboxane A2. In this study we investigated freshly dissociat ed neonatal Lewis rat Schwann cells and a SV40 transfected neonatal ra t Schwann cell line (Schwann cell line) for production of mRNA for the immunomodulatory cytokines IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-IO, interferon-gamma (IFN gamma), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha) employing RT- PCR. Primary Schwann cells and Schwann cell line were examined followi ng IFN gamma stimulation and were found to express TNF alpha and IL-6 mRNA. These results further support a role for Schwann cell participat ion in inflammatory responses within the peripheral nervous system (PN S).