title: Efficiency of interleukin-4 expression in patients with tuberculosis and nontubercular pneumonia.
abstract: In the early stage of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, macrophages, in cooperation with interferon-gamma, a Th1 effector, are the first line of defense. Interleukin (IL)-4, a Th2 effector, is known to downregulate interferon-gamma. It is believed that the expression levels of IL-4 and its splicing variant-IL-4delta2 might be associated with Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and chest radiographic patterns. The IL-4 and IL-4delta2 expressions in stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 76 tuberculosis patients, 48 pneumonic patients. and 36 healthy control subjects were evaluated by nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and the expression of glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was used as an internal reference. The results showed that IL-4 mRNA expression was significantly decreased in patients with tuberculosis and nontubercular pneumonia compared with that in controls. The IL-4delta2 mRNA expression was positively correlated with IL-4 mRNA expression in all cases. The ratio of IL-4delta2 to IL-4 mRNA expression in tubercular patients with a cavity on chest radiography was significantly lower than that in patients without a chest cavity. In conclusion, the ratio of IL-4delta2 to IL-4 mRNA expression may play a key role in disease severity for patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. From our observations, the IL-4 mRNA expression efficiency was attenuated in patients with pulmonary infection, either tuberculosis or pneumonia.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Huang-Pin
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Chia-Ling
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Chung-Chieh
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Yu-Chih
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Duen-Yau
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Chuang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D015847:Interleukin-4