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Inhibitory Effect of Interleukin 4 on Production of Interleukin 6 by Adult T-Cell Leukemia Cells¹

The First Department of Internal Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Medicine, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishiku, Kitakyushu 807, Japan

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed.

Freshly isolated leukemic cells from patients with adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) produce high levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6), which is suggested to play an important role in thrombocytosis, elevation of C-reactive protein, and hypercalcemia in ATL. In this study, we investigated the effects of T-cell growth factors such as interleukin 2 (IL-2) and interleukin 4 (IL-4) on IL-6 production by ATL cells in vitro. Although IL-2 and/or IL-4 enhanced the cell proliferation of freshly isolated ATL cells from seven of nine patients, IL-2 did not affect the IL-6 release in most cases. In contrast, another T-cell tropic factor, IL-4 markedly inhibited the release of IL-6 in the conditioned medium in all cases. This IL-4-mediated inhibition of IL-6 release was completely abrogated by the addition of anti-IL-4 monoclonal antibody. Time course experiments demonstrated that IL-4 reduced the secretion of IL-6 for a prolonged period of time (more than 72 h). By Northern analysis, IL-4 reduced the transcription level of IL-6 mRNA. Furthermore, by flow cytofluorometry with the use of anti-human IL-4 receptor monoclonal antibody, ATL cells showed the significant level of IL-4 receptor on their cell surfaces without any stimulation. These data suggest that IL-4 may play an important regulatory role in the production of IL-6 in ATL.

¹ This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan, and research award from the Arthritis Foundation, Atlanta, GA.

The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

Received 3/22/93. Accepted 7/27/93.

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