Mm. Monick et al., DEXAMETHASONE INHIBITS IL-1 AND TNF ACTIVITY IN HUMAN LUNG FIBROBLASTS WITHOUT AFFECTING IL-1 OR TNF RECEPTORS, The American journal of physiology, 267(1), 1994, pp. 120000033-120000038
Interleukin (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) activate human lung
fibroblasts through interactions with specific receptors. One effect
of this interaction of IL-1 and TNF with fibroblasts is an increased p
roduction of the cytokines, IL-6 and IL-8. Dexamethasone blocks the in
duction of IL-6 and IL-8 by IL-1 or TNF. In these studies, we determin
ed whether dexamethasone interferes with the upregulation of IL-6 and
IL-8 by downregulating expression of the IL-1 or TNF receptor genes. C
onfluent lung fibroblasts were treated with medium alone (control) or
medium with dexamethasone (10(-6) M). Dexamethasone did not decrease t
he binding of IL-1 and TNF to their receptors, nor did it decrease amo
unts of IL-1 or TNF receptor RNA. Both IL-1 and TNF increased release
of IL-6 and IL-8 from the cells in a dose-dependent manner and dexamet
hasone inhibited this effect. Dexamethasone also inhibited the inducti
on of IL-6 and IL-8 RNA by IL-1 and TNF. The studies show that dexamet
hasone does not block the effects of IL-1 or TNF on fibroblasts by dec
reasing expression of IL-1 or TNF receptors.