Abstract

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha) and interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) are pluripotent cytokines mediating the host response to sepsis, injury, and cancer. Animals can be protected from the lethal effects of TNF alpha by repeated administration of sublethal doses, but the mechanism of this effect is not known. Human foreskin fibroblasts (FS4 cells), which rapidly elaborate interleukin-6 (IL-6) when stimulated with TNF alpha or IL-1 alpha, were grown in culture as confluent monolayers and their secretion of IL-6 was quantitated using the murine B9-hybridoma bioassay against an external reference of human recombinant IL-6 (Genetics Institute). When FS4 cells were incubated with human recombinant TNF alpha (50 ng/ml; Cetus) or recombinant IL-1 alpha (30 pg/ml; Genzyme) a rapid increase in IL-6 production was measured over control, rising to IL-6 levels of 71.7 +/- 5.9 units/ml with TNF alpha and 54.0 +/- 1.2 units/ml with IL-1 alpha after 7.5 hr incubation. FS4 cells which were exposed to cytokine, rinsed, and then reexposed to cytokine 24 hr later produced significantly less IL-6 [38.1 +/- 2.8 units/ml with second exposure to TNF alpha (P less than 0.05), and 18.3 +/- 1.9 units/ml with second exposure to IL-1 alpha (P less than 0.01)]. Successive daily exposure to TNF alpha or IL-1 alpha caused a further stepwise diminution of IL-6 secretion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

View details for Web of Science ID A1991FW32400005

View details for PubMedID 2067355