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Increased intracellular Th1 cytokines in scid mice with inflammatory bowel disease
Author(s) -
Bregenholtant Søren,
Claesson Mogens H.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
european journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.272
H-Index - 201
eISSN - 1521-4141
pISSN - 0014-2980
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-4141(199801)28:01<379::aid-immu379>3.0.co;2-x
Subject(s) - lamina propria , ionomycin , biology , cytokine , immunology , intracellular , epithelium , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics
Abstract Severe combined immunodeficient (scid) mice engrafted with small pieces of full thickness gut wall from immunocompetent syngenic donors develop a chronic and lethal colitis. Lymphocytes from the lamina propria of engrafted mice were analyzed for phorbol ester/ionomycin‐induced cytokine production by intracellular staining. A 4 – 5‐fold increase in the fraction of IFN‐γ‐producing CD4+ lamina propria T cells was found in moderately and severely diseased mice when compared to healthy congenic C.B‐17 control mice. The number of IL‐2‐producing T cells was increased by approximately 2‐fold when comparing mice suffering from severe disease to healthy control mice. The fraction of TNF‐α positive CD4+ T cells was increased by a factor of two in both moderately and severely diseased mice. When analyzing Th2 cytokines, it was found that the levels of IL‐4‐producing CD4+ T cells was not altered in diseased animals, whereas the fraction IL‐10‐producing CD4+ T cells was reduced by a factor of 20. The combined data showed a 15 – 25‐fold increase in the Th1/Th2 ratio of diseased mice when compared to healthy control mice. No intracellular cytokines could be detected in lymphocytes not treated with phorbol ester/ionomycin. The present data identify a prominent role for Th1‐type T helper cells in the immunopathogenesis of gut wall graft‐induced inflammatory bowel disease in scid mice.