ANTIUVEITIS AND INHIBITION OF FIBROBLAST-LIKE CORNEAL AND CONJUNCTIVAL CELL-CULTURES BY INTERLEUKIN-1 BLOCKERS, CK 125, CK 126 AND CK 128

Three new interleukin-1 (IL-1) blockers, CK 125, CK 126 and CK 128, we re studied for their effects on IL-1-induced uveitis in rat eyes. They were more potent (at 3-10 mg/kg t.i.d.) than prednisolone (30 mg/kg t .i.d.) in effectively inhibiting posterior uveitis. They were also fou nd to inhibit fibroblast-like corneal cells at 10-300 mu g/ml concentr ations and conjunctival cells at 1-30 mu g/ml levels. The incorporatio n of leucine into corneal and conjunctival cells was either stimulated or unaffected by CK 126, indicating that the inhibition of cell growt h has nothing to do with the protein synthesis. However, the incorpora tion of uridine into corneal and conjunctival cells was markedly inhib ited by CK 126 at 3-30 mu g/ml concentrations whereas the incorporatio n of thymidine into the cells was inhibited at a lesser extent than th at of uridine. These results indicate that cell inhibition by CK 126 c ould be related mainly to the synthesis of mRNA and, to a lesser exten t, to DNA synthesis.