PENTOXIFYLLINE INHIBITS IG KAPPA-GENE-TRANSCRIPTION AND REARRANGEMENTS IN PRE-B CELLS

Pentoxifylline (PF) has been used in a wide variety of clinical situat ions; however, the molecular consequences of this drug are not well ch aracterized. In this paper we assayed the effects of PF in two models of pre-B differentiation. In 70Z pre-B cells, transcriptional inductio n of rearranged Ig kappa-chain gene in response to LPS was suppressed by PF, without affecting the induction of Rel family proteins, In cont rast, kappa induction by IFN-gamma was not suppressed by PF, indicatin g that the drug inhibited certain activation pathways, We also found t hat LPS-induced activation of germline kappa transcription and V kappa to J kappa recombination were inhibited by PF in the pre-B cell line 38B9. These observations suggest that PF may adversely affect B lympho poiesis during chronic administration.