Constitutive production of interleukin-6 and immunologic features in cardiac myxomas.
The constitutive production of interleukin-6 (IL-6), a potent hepatocyte-stimulating factor and B cell-differentiating factor, was demonstrated in 3 patients with cardiac myxomas. Tumor cells from the only patient who presented with immunologic features produced 14-23-fold higher levels of IL-6 than those from the 2 patients who lacked such features. A significant serum IL-6 level (56 pg/ml), greater than that observed in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis, was also observed only in this patient, with a subsequent return to an undetectable level after surgical removal of the tumor. This was associated with a regression of the immunologic features. This same patient was observed to have an IL-6-dependent, proliferative polyclonal plasmacytosis of the bone marrow. These observations demonstrate that an overproduction of IL-6 by cardiac myxoma cells, in association with a systemic passage of this IL-6, may be responsible for the immunologic features similar to those observed in true autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Jourdan
M
M
INSERM U291, Immunopathologie des Maladies Tumorales et Autoimmunes, Monpellier, France.
Bataille
R
R
Seguin
J
J
Zhang
X G
XG
Chaptal
P A
PA
Klein
B
B
D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D001855:Bone Marrow Diseases / Q000097:blood; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D006942:Hypergammaglobulinemia / Q000209:etiology; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D009232:Myxoma / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology
D000209:Acute-Phase Proteins; D001323:Autoantibodies; D015850:Interleukin-6