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Secretory vesicles of immune cells contain only a limited number of interleukin 6 molecules
Author(s) -
Verboogen Daniëlle R. J.,
Beest Martin,
Honigmann Alf,
Bogaart Geert
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1002/1873-3468.13036
Subject(s) - secretory vesicle , secretion , immune system , microbiology and biotechnology , vesicle , golgi apparatus , cytokine , microvesicles , chemistry , interleukin , biology , immunology , biochemistry , exocytosis , membrane , endoplasmic reticulum , microrna , gene
Immune cells communicate by releasing large quantities of cytokines. Although the mechanisms of cytokine secretion are increasingly understood, quantitative knowledge of the number of cytokines per vesicle is still lacking. Here, we measured with quantitative microscopy the release rate of vesicles potentially carrying interleukin‐6 ( IL ‐6) in human dendritic cells. By comparing this to the total secreted IL ‐6, we estimate that secretory vesicles contain about 0.5–3 IL ‐6 molecules, but with a large spread among cells/donors. Moreover, IL ‐6 did not accumulate within most cells, indicating that synthesis and not trafficking is the bottleneck for IL ‐6 production. IL ‐6 accumulated in the Golgi apparatus only in ~ 10% of the cells. Understanding how immune cells produce cytokines is important for designing new immunomodulatory drugs.