title: Presence, uptake and localization of an immunoreactively interleukin 6 (IL-6)-like molecule in Tetrahymena pyriformis.
abstract: The unicellular Tetrahymena and its medium contain immunoreactively interleukin 6 (IL-6)-like molecules (hereinafter IL-6) in a measurable quantity in the 24 h-old cultures. This protozoan takes up exogenously supplied IL-6 very quickly, and this can be found in similar amounts in both the cells and the media after 1 h. After 24 h (48 h cultures), an equal amount of IL-6 is present in the control and IL-6-treated cells and their media. By 120 h, cells which have not had their medium changed retained the same quantity of IL-6 as the control; however less than half was found in IL-6-treated cells. In the medium of 120 h-old cultures, there was a reduction of IL-6 content relative to the 24 h content in the control; however, in the IL-6-treated cell culture medium, less than half of the level in the controls was found. Confocal microscopy demonstrated the localization of IL-6 in/on the oral apparatus and basal bodies, and the nuclear envelope also showed moderate labelling. IL-6 antibody binding was enhanced after IL-6 pretreatment (hormonal imprinting). The experiments call attention to the presence of an IL-6-like molecule and its uptake at a very low level of phylogeny.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Cell and Immunobiology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, H-1085, Hungary.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kõhidai
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kovács
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lázár-Molnár
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Csaba
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000378:metabolism / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D013768:Tetrahymena / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6