ALTERED TH1 TH2 CYTOKINE PROFILES IN THE INTESTINAL-MUCOSA OF PATIENTS WITH INFLAMMATORY BOWEL-DISEASE AS ASSESSED BY QUANTITATIVE REVERSEDTRANSCRIBED POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION (RT-PCR)/
M. Niessner et Ba. Volk, ALTERED TH1 TH2 CYTOKINE PROFILES IN THE INTESTINAL-MUCOSA OF PATIENTS WITH INFLAMMATORY BOWEL-DISEASE AS ASSESSED BY QUANTITATIVE REVERSEDTRANSCRIBED POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION (RT-PCR)/, Clinical and experimental immunology, 101(3), 1995, pp. 428-435
Cytokines serve a central function as key factors in the regulation of
the intestinal immune response and mediation of tissue damage in infl
ammatory bowel disease (IBD). Abnormalities in the expression of immun
oregulatory cytokines such as IL-2, IL-4, IL-10 and interferon-gamma (
IFN-gamma) may indicate a dysregulation of intestinal immunity probabl
y associated with pathogenic events. Therefore, cytokine mRNA concentr
ations were determined in the mucosa of patients with IBD at sites of
active (n = 13) and inactive (n = 12) ulcerative colitis (UC), active
(n = 11) and. inactive (n = 11) Crohn's disease (CD) and in control pa
tients (n = 14) using quantitative RT-PCR. IL-10 mRNA concentrations w
ere significantly increased in patients with both active UC (P < 0.001
) and active CD (P < 0.005) compared with control patients. lFN-gamma
mRNA concentrations were also significantly increased both in patients
with active UC (P < 0.02) and active CD (P < 0.05) compared with cont
rol patients, whereas IL-2 mRNA levels were significantly (P < 0.02) i
ncreased only in active CD. IL-4 mRNA expression in the intestinal muc
osa was frequently below the detection limit. Our results demonstrate
that chronic intestinal inflammation in patients with CD is characteri
zed by an increase of Th1-like cytokines. Furthermore, the increased I
L-10 mRNA expression at sites of active IBD suggests that IL-10 is an
important regulatory component involved in the control of the inflamma
tory response in inflammatory bowel disease.