title: Normal breast epithelial cells produce interleukins 6 and 8 together with tumor-necrosis factor: defective IL6 expression in mammary carcinoma.
abstract: Virtually pure primary cultures of normal mammary epithelial cells (MEC) obtained from healthy women were shown to release interleukin 6 and 8 (IL6, IL8) and to produce a nonsecreted form of tumor-necrosis factor (TNF). No interferon (IFN), whether alpha, beta, or gamma, or IL1-alpha or -beta could be detected. Analysis of cellular RNA confirmed these findings and showed that MEC also express IL6 receptor and TNF-alpha-related mRNAs. Epithelial cells were selectively stained by antibodies to IL6, IL8 and TNF-alpha both in primary cultures and in the normal mammary gland. Samples of human milk contained sizable amounts of IL6, IL8 and IFN-gamma; yet the liquid phase was consistently negative for other cytokines (i.e., TNF-alpha, IFN-alpha/-beta, IL1-alpha/-beta). Expression of IL6 (but not of IL8 and TNF-alpha) was abolished in ductal infiltrating carcinomas and greatly reduced in cultures of oncogene-transfected mammary cells, suggesting that alterations of IL6 expression are associated with pathogenesis in breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathological Anatomy, University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Basolo
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Conaldi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fiore
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Calvo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toniolo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001940:Breast / Q000378:metabolism*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000378:metabolism*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004848:Epithelium / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000378:metabolism*; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000378:metabolism*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D016209:Interleukin-8; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D007371:Interferon-gamma