Cytokines cause functional and structural damage to isolated islets of Langerhans.
Cytokines are soluble, antigen non-specific, non-immunoglobulin mediators produced and secreted by blood mononuclear cells interacting in the cellular immune-response. To test the possibility that cytokines participate in the autoimmune destruction of the pancreatic beta-cells leading to insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, isolated human or rat islets of Langerhans were incubated for 7 days with cytokine-rich, cell-free supernatants of blood mononuclear cells from healthy human donors stimulated with or without purified protein derivative of tuberculin or phytohaemagglutinin. Glucose stimulated insulin-release, and contents of insulin and glucagon in islets incubated with cytokine-rich supernatants were markedly reduced. This impairment of islet function was due to a cytotoxic effect of cytokine-rich supernatants as judged by disintegration of normal light-microscopic morphology.
D000818:Animals; D001688:Biological Products / Q000276:immunology*; D046508:Culture Techniques; D016207:Cytokines; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D005947:Glucose / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism; D000078790:Insulin Secretion; D007515:Islets of Langerhans / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D009000:Monocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D051381:Rats; D012636:Secretory Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D013997:Time Factors
D001688:Biological Products; D016207:Cytokines; D007328:Insulin; D005947:Glucose