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Expression of cytokine mRNA transcripts in renal cell carcinoma
Author(s) -
Olive Colleen,
Cheung Catherine,
Nicol David,
Falk Michael C
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
immunology and cell biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0818-9641
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1711.1998.00759.x
Subject(s) - cytokine , biology , kidney , immune system , cancer research , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , endocrinology
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a solid tumour of the kidney and is the most common renal neoplasm. Despite the presence of tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in RCC, these tumours continue to progress in vivo suggesting a poor host immune response to the tumour, and the suppression of TIL effector function. Cytokines are key molecules that modulate the function of T cells. The possibility is investigated that the local production of cytokines in RCC contributes to immunosuppression of TIL. The expression of pro‐inflammatory (IFN‐γ/IL‐2) and immunosuppressive (IL‐10/TGF‐β) cytokine mRNA transcripts was determined in RCC, normal kidney and peripheral blood of RCC patients using a semi‐quantitative reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) with cytokine‐specific primers. Following Southern blot hybridization of the PCR products with internal radiolabelled oligonucleotide probes, cytokine transcript levels were measured by densitometry and expressed relative to the glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase densitometry score. With the exception of IL‐10, there were no differences in expression of cytokine mRNA transcripts between the peripheral blood of patients and normal healthy individuals. It was found that TGF‐β transcripts were well represented in normal kidney and RCC. In contrast, the expression of IFN‐γ transcripts, while low in the majority of samples, was significantly increased in RCC when compared to normal kidney ( P = 0.05). The IL‐2 and IL‐10 transcripts showed a more variable expression in normal kidney and RCC, with no significant differences in expression between the sample groups. The data demonstrating pro‐inflammatory and immunosuppressive cytokine expression in RCC do not support a prominent immunosuppressive cytokine profile in these tumours.