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Cytokines Cause Functional and Structural Damage to Isolated Islets of Langerhans
Author(s) -
MandrupPoulsen T.,
Bendtzen K.,
Nielsen J. Høiriis,
Bendixen G.,
Nerup J.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
allergy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.363
H-Index - 173
eISSN - 1398-9995
pISSN - 0105-4538
DOI - 10.1111/j.1398-9995.1985.tb02681.x
Subject(s) - phytohaemagglutinin , cytokine , islet , immune system , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , insulin , endocrinology , cytotoxic t cell , immunology , medicine , pancreatic islets , antigen , biology , in vitro , biochemistry
Cytokines are soluble, antigen non‐specific, non‐immunoglobulin mediators produced and secreted by blood mononuclear cells interacting in the cellular immune‐response. To test the possibility that cytokines participate in the autoimmune destruction of the pancreatic beta‐cells leading to insulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus, isolated human or rat islets of Langerhans were incubated for 7 days with cytokine‐rich, cell‐free supernatants of blood mononuclear cells from healthy human donors stimulated with or without purified protein derivative of tuberculin or phytohaemagglutinin. Glucose stimulated insulin‐release, and contents of insulin and glucagon in islets incubated with cytokine‐rich supernatants were markedly reduced. This impairment of islet function was due to a cytotoxic effect of cytokine‐rich supernatants as judged by disintegration of normal light‐microscopic morphology.