Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Interferon Expression in Crohn's Disease Patients: Increased Interferon-γ and -α mRNA in the Intestinal Lamina Propria Mononuclear Cells

1994; Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.; Volume: 14; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1089/jir.1994.14.235

2332-4007

Stefano Fais, Maria Rosaria Capobianchi, Maurizio Silvestri, Francesco Bruno Mercuri, Francesco Pallone, F. Dianzani,

Microscopic Colitis

The in vivo interferon (IFN) activation in Crohn's disease was evaluated by measuring the relative amounts of IFN-α and -γ mRNA in freshly isolated human lamina propria mononuclear cells (LPMC) from patients with Crohn's disease and controls. Both IFN-γ and IFN-α mRNA, as estimated by dot blot analysis, were increased in Crohn's disease (LPMC), although the relative amounts of IFN mRNA appeared to differ among patients. Appreciable amounts of IFN-γ mRNA were found in Crohn's disease peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) extracts, whereas the same cells were negative for IFN-α mRNA. Only minute amounts of IFN-γ RNA were found sporadically in control LPMC while no IFN-α was detected. Control PBMC were shown to be virtually negative for both IFN-α and IFN-γ mRNA. These data suggest that IFN induction in the normal human gut is a well-controlled function and that in Crohn's disease tissues, both IFN-γ and IFN-α production are dysregulated. The increased IFN activity may represent a major feature in the induction and perpetuation of the chronic inflammatory process in Crohn's disease.