Soluble interleukin-2 receptor, interleukin-2 and interleukin-4 in sera and supernatants from patients with progressive systemic sclerosis.
We studied the sera of patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) for elevated levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R), interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interleukin-4 (IL-4). We also measured IL-2, IL-4 and B cell growth factor (BCGF) activity in supernatants of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from the same patients. The finding of elevated serum sIL-2R and IL-2, and the increased levels of IL-2, IL-4 and BCGF activity in culture supernatants indicates that T lymphocyte hyperactivity likely play a major role in PSS. The failure to detect under our experimental conditions a direct proliferative effect of recombinant IL-2 on enriched normal B cells might suggest that IL-4 is the cytokine mainly responsible of the BCGF activity recovered in PSS supernatants.
Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale, University of L'Aquila, Italy.
G
G
Famularo
A
A
Procopio
R
R
Giacomelli
C
C
Danese
S
S
Sacchetti
M A
MA
Perego
A
A
Santoni
G
G
Tonietti
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology; D002455:Cell Division; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000378:metabolism*; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D012995:Solubility; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology
D007376:Interleukin-2; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2; D015847:Interleukin-4