scholarly journals Erythromycin Inhibits Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha and Interleukin 6 Production Induced by Heat-Killed Streptococcus pneumoniae in Whole Blood

1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (7) ◽  
pp. 1605-1609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc J. Schultz ◽  
Peter Speelman ◽  
Sebastian Zaat ◽  
Sander J. H. van Deventer ◽  
Tom van der Poll

ABSTRACT To determine the effects of penicillin and erythromycin on cytokine production induced by heat-killed Streptococcus pneumoniae (HKSP), we studied the effects of those drugs on cytokine production induced by S. pneumoniaein human whole blood in vitro and ex vivo. In whole blood in vitro, erythromycin, but not penicillin, caused a dose-dependent decrease in HKSP-induced production of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF) and interleukin 6 (IL-6), while the production of IL-10, IL-12, and gamma interferon was inhibited only at the highest erythromycin concentration tested (10−3 M). The production of TNF and IL-6 in whole blood obtained from healthy subjects after a 30-min infusion of erythromycin (1,000 mg) was lower after ex vivo stimulation with HKSP than that in blood drawn before the infusion. Inhibition of TNF contributed to erythromycin-induced inhibition of IL-6 synthesis. Inhibition of TNF and IL-6 production by erythromycin may have a negative impact on host defense mechanisms during pneumococcal pneumonia.

1992 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. 653-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Jörres ◽  
P. Froese ◽  
C. Fischer ◽  
H. Safak ◽  
G.M. Gahl ◽  
...  

Conflicting results have been published concerning the systemic induction of the cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) during hemodialysis (HD). We therefore evaluated in vitro TNFα production in whole blood as well as in vivo variability of TNFα levels in patients on long-term HD. Whole blood was incubated at room temperature (RT) with or without exogenously added endotoxin (ET), and plasma-TNFα was measured after 5, 30, 120, 240, and 960 min by specific enzyme immunoassay. Additionally, plasma-TNFα before and after 120 and 240 min HD was studied longitudinally once a week over a period of 4 weeks in 36 patients on Cuprophan® (CU, n=23) or polysulfone-F60 (PSu, n=13) HD. Mean plasma TNFα levels in vitro rose from (mean) 8 pg/ml after 5 min to 12 pg/ml (120′) and 32 pg/ml (960′) even without ET addition, and to 18 pg/ml (after 120′) and 88 pg/ml (after 960′) when 0.1 μg/ml ET were added. Pre-dialytic as well as intradialytic TNFα levels in patients showed high intra-individual variability. A substantial (> 100%) increase in plasma TNFα was observed during only 14 out of 84 treatments with CU and 20 out of 47 with PSu, however, the increase in TNFα was not statistically significant in either group. We conclude that the sampling procedure, if not carefully standardized, is a potential source of artifacts with regard to “systemic” TNFα levels. The high intra and inter-individual variability of plasma TNFα suggests that results of cross-sectional studies are questionable.


1999 ◽  
Vol 67 (7) ◽  
pp. 3284-3289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masanori Ogata ◽  
Takashi Matsui ◽  
Toshiro Kita ◽  
Akio Shigematsu

ABSTRACT We have previously reported that pretreatment with carrageenan (CAR) enhances lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) production in and lethality for mice. Whole blood cultured in vitro was used to show that CAR pretreatment results in about a 200-fold increase in LPS-induced TNF-α production. CAR by itself did not induce TNF-α production. However, CAR-treated cultured medium sensitized whole blood to make more LPS-induced TNF than did saline-treated cultured medium in vitro. It was also demonstrated that CAR pretreatment increases TNF-α mRNA levels of both blood cells and peritoneal exudate cells, but not of bone marrow cells. Immunoelectron microscopic analysis revealed that polymorphonuclear leukocytes and macrophages are TNF-α-producing cells in CAR-treated mice. In CAR-treated mice, TNF-α was seen early after LPS injection in leukocytes in hepatic sinusoids and on the surfaces of endothelial cells. TNF-α was also detected late after LPS injection in hepatocytes which become edematous. These results suggest that CAR primes leukocytes to produce TNF-α in response to LPS and that they play an important role in the pathogenesis of liver injury.


2000 ◽  
Vol 68 (9) ◽  
pp. 5234-5240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Newton ◽  
Shannon McHugh ◽  
Ray Widen ◽  
Noriya Nakachi ◽  
Thomas Klein ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Infection of BALB/c mice with a sublethal concentration ofLegionella pneumophila causes an acute disease that is resolved by innate immune responses. The infection also initiates the development of adaptive Th1 responses that protect the mice from challenge infections. To study the early responses, cytokines induced during the first 24 h after infection were examined. In the serum, interleukin-12 (IL-12) was detectable by 3 h and peaked at 10 h, while gamma interferon was discernible by 5 h and peaked at 8 h. Similar patterns were observed in ex vivo cultures of splenocytes. A transient IL-4 response was also detected by 3 h postinfection in ex vivo cultures. BALB/c IL-4-deficient mice were more susceptible to L. pneumophila infection than were wild-type mice. The infection induced higher serum levels of acute-phase cytokines (tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-α], IL-1β, and IL-6), and reducing TNF-α levels with antibodies protected the mice from death. Moreover, the addition of IL-4 to L. pneumophila-infected macrophage cultures suppressed the production of these cytokines. Thus, the lack of IL-4 in the deficient mice resulted in unchecked TNF-α production, which appeared to cause the mortality. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), a chemokine that is induced by IL-4 during Listeria monocytogenesinfection, was detected at between 2 and 30 h after infection. However, MCP-1 did not appear to be induced by IL-4 or to be required for the TNF-α regulation by IL-4. The data suggest that the early increase in IL-4 serves to regulate the mobilization of acute phase cytokines and thus controls the potential harmful effects of these cytokines.


1990 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 468-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaaki Yamaguchi ◽  
Masahiro Sakata ◽  
Noboru Matsuzaki ◽  
Koji Koike ◽  
Akira Miyake ◽  
...  

1991 ◽  
Vol 261 (4) ◽  
pp. L315-L321 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. N. Allen ◽  
D. J. Herzyk ◽  
M. D. Wewers

To study the role of microtubules in cytokine production, the effect of the microtubule depolymerizing agent colchicine on lipopolysaccharide endotoxin (LPS)-induced interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) release by blood monocytes and alveolar macrophages were examined. Immunofluorescence microscopy demonstrated that LPS resulted in the appearance of microtubule-containing cytoplasmic appendages and that colchicine, which resulted in microtubule disruption in monocytes, blocked appendage formation. Colchicine resulted in approximately 50% increase in LPS-induced IL-1 beta release and a 50% decrease in LPS-induced TNF-alpha release by human monocytes at all doses of LPS tested. Although colchicine resulted in a statistically significant increase in LPS-stimulated human alveolar macrophage IL-1 beta release, the increase was not as great as that observed with monocytes. Northern blot analysis suggested that the colchicine effect occurs pretranslationally because colchicine caused an increase in LPS-stimulated IL-1 beta mRNA levels and a decrease in TNF-alpha mRNA levels. These results suggest that microtubules contribute to the regulation of endotoxin-stimulated mononuclear phagocyte cytokine production and that this regulation differs significantly between IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha.


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