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Chronic Administration of UK‐114, a Multifunctional Emerging Protein, Modulates the Th1/Th2 Cytokine Pattern and Experimental Autoimmune Diseases
Author(s) -
PANERAI ALBERTO E.,
SACERDOTE PAOLA,
BIANCHI MAURO,
NICOLETTI FERDINANDO,
MANFREDI BARBARA,
GASPANI LEDA,
BARTORELLI ALBERTO,
CECILIANI FABRIZIO,
RONCHI SEVERINO
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb07643.x
Subject(s) - cytokine , heat shock protein , hsp60 , splenocyte , autoimmunity , immunology , nod mice , nod , adjuvant , biology , antigen , endocrinology , medicine , antibody , diabetes mellitus , hsp70 , biochemistry , gene
UK‐114 is a 14‐kDa ubiquitous protein recently sequenced by several groups throughout the world. Its activity ranges from being a tumor antigen, a protein synthesis inhibitor or a specific μ‐calpain activator. UK‐114 shows structural homologies also with proteins of the MHC‐1 binding proteins, and heat shock proteins (HSPs). We investigated the possible effects of UK‐114 on T helper cells cytokine profile and the development and progression of experimental autoimmune diseases. Homogeneous recombinant UK‐114 was used in all experiments. Treatment of Balb/c male mice for two weeks resulted in the increase of IL‐4, and the decrease of TNF‐α, IFN‐γ, and IL‐2 release from stimulated splenocytes, suggesting that UK‐114 modulates the Th1/Th2 cytokine profile toward Th2. Similar to that observed with HSP60/65, a single pretreatment of Lewis rats with UK‐114 significantly blunted the development of adjuvant‐induced arthritis, whereas chronic treatment of 4‐week‐old female NOD mice dose dependently inhibited the development of diabetes.