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Normal T-helper 1/T-helper 2 balance in peripheral blood of coeliac disease patients.
- Source :
-
Scandinavian journal of immunology [Scand J Immunol] 1999 Feb; Vol. 49 (2), pp. 197-202. - Publication Year :
- 1999
-
Abstract
- Activated T cells, with their secretion of cytokines, probably play an important role in the pathogenesis of mucosal lesions in coeliac disease (COD) and the prominence of a T-helper (Th)1-type cytokine pattern has been reported. As the process of immunological activation in the jejunal mucosa in active CoD has been shown to also cause some differences in peripheral blood lymphocyte populations, we sought to establish any changes in the Th 1/Th2 balance in peripheral blood of patients, at different stages of CoD, relative to healthy individuals. Twenty-two CoD patients and 10 healthy controls were included in the study. The Th1/Th2 balance was examined both in resting cells and after polyclonal stimulation using two different methods: intracytoplasmic cytokine contents were measured using an intracellular staining method and three-colour flow cytometry and cytokine contents of cell culture supernatants were measured using traditional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). Interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma)-producing cells (Thl) were as prominent in untreated CoD patients and treated CoD patients as in healthy controls, while cells fitting a Th2 or ThO-type cytokine pattern were few in all groups. In ELISA assays, Th1 type (IFN-gamma or interleukin (IL)-2) cytokines were again prominent in all study groups but no statistically significant differences were found in IFN-gamma, IL-4 or IL-2 levels among the three groups. These results suggest that the increased shift towards a Th1 response is mainly restricted to the actual site of inflammation and that circulating T cells do not show a similar response, presumably because activated cells in peripheral blood are too few. Further research on cytokine profiles measuring T-cell activation in CoD should be focused on the actual tissue of inflammation.
- Subjects :
- Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Cells, Cultured
Culture Media, Conditioned chemistry
Humans
Interferon-gamma analysis
Interleukin-2 analysis
Interleukin-4 analysis
Intracellular Fluid chemistry
Middle Aged
Th1 Cells pathology
Th2 Cells pathology
Jejunal Diseases blood
Jejunal Diseases immunology
Th1 Cells immunology
Th2 Cells immunology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0300-9475
- Volume :
- 49
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Scandinavian journal of immunology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 10075025
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3083.1999.00478.x