title: A thymocyte-activating factor derived from glomerular mesangial cells.
abstract: The glomerular mesangium is centrally involved in immune-mediated glomerulonephritis. The mesangial cell is a mesenchyme-derived multipotential vascular pericyte, which shares several properties with macrophages. Cultured, proliferating rat mesangial cells produce a factor, mesangial cell-derived thymocyte-activating factor (MC-TAF), which physicochemically and biologically closely resembles macrophage interleukin 1. MC-TAF is heat labile, of low m.w. (approximately 15,000), and adheres to anion exchangers. MC-TAF acts to augment lectin-induced thymocyte proliferation and enhances peripheral lymphocyte production of interleukin 2. These findings suggest that a mesangial cell cytokine may interact with the cellular immune system in an antigenically nonspecific fashion to modulate immune responses in glomerular disease.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D005260:Female; D005921:Glomerulonephritis / Q000276:immunology; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D007375:Interleukin-1