Constitutive production of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha from spontaneously proliferating T cells in patients with human T-cell lymphotropic virus type-I/II.
The human T-cell lymphotropic viruses (HTLV) type I and type II are capable of inducing a variety of cellular genes, including many of the cytokines that regulate cell proliferation. To determine if the spontaneous proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients infected with HTLV-I and HTLV-II was related to coordinate expression of cytokines, we analyzed the levels of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interferon-tau (IFN-tau) in culture supernatants derived from spontaneously proliferating cells. Significantly elevated levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha were present in culture supernatants from HTLV-I/II-infected individuals when compared with normal controls (P less than .01). Kinetic experiments showed that both IL-6 and TNF-alpha were elevated by day 5. None of the other cytokines (IL-1 beta, IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, and IFN-tau) were detectable in any of the culture. These data suggest that release of IL-6 and TNF-alpha may regulate lymphocyte proliferation in HTLV-I/II-infected individuals.
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Retrovirus Diseases Branch, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA 30333.
Rudolph
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D000328:Adult; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D016207:Cytokines / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis; D015485:Deltaretrovirus Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D007700:Kinetics; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis*
D016207:Cytokines; D015485:Deltaretrovirus Antigens; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies; D015482:HTLV-II Antibodies; D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha