No abstract

Semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to analyse the expression of cytokine mRNAs in freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from a patient with Kimura's disease. The patient was treated with cyclosporin A (CsA) after incomplete tumour resection and irradiation of lesions. Levels of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5 and IL-13 mRNA were elevated and the level of interferon (IFN)-gamma mRNA was within normal limits before treatment. The levels of IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13 mRNA, the number of eosinophils, and the serum level of IgE decreased markedly after surgery and radiation therapy. CsA treatment suppressed these values in a dose-dependent manner, but had a minimal effect on the level of IFN-gamma mRNA. The number of peripheral eosinophils decreased in association with decreases in the levels of IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13 mRNAs during CsA therapy; the serum level of IgE remained low during therapy and did not fluctuate in association with changes in cytokine levels. These results suggest the Th2 cytokines play a part in the development of Kimura's disease and that CsA suppresses the activity of this disease.

Semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to analyse the expression of cytokine mRNAs in freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from a patient with Kimura's disease. The patient was treated with cyclosporin A (CsA) after incomplete tumour resection and irradiation of lesions. Levels of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5 and IL-13 mRNA were elevated and the level of interferon (IFN)-gamma mRNA was within normal limits before treatment. The levels of IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13 mRNA, the number of eosinophils, and the serum level of IgE decreased markedly after surgery and radiation therapy. CsA treatment suppressed these values in a dose-dependent manner, but had a minimal effect on the level of IFN-gamma mRNA. The number of peripheral eosinophils decreased in association with decreases in the levels of IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13 mRNAs during CsA therapy; the serum level of IgE remained low during therapy and did not fluctuate in association with changes in cytokine levels. These results suggest the Th2 cytokines play a part in the development of Kimura's disease and that CsA suppresses the activity of this disease.

In order to gain a deeper insight into the role of 5 alpha-reductase in the growth of beards in men, we studied some kinetic properties of the enzyme in cell homogenates of cultured human dermal papilla cells from beard and occipital scalp hair. When cell homogenates were incubated with [3H]-testosterone, the 5 alpha-reductase of beard dermal papilla cells exhibited an optimum activity at pH 5.5, whereas the enzyme of dermal papilla cells from occipital scalp hair showed a broad and low plateau between pH 6.0 and 9.0, without a sharp peak. The apparent Michaelis constant of 5 alpha-reductase was 3.3 x 10(-7) M in dermal papilla cells from beard and 2.4 x 10(-5) M in those cells from occipital scalp hair. The apparent Km of 5 alpha-reductase for NADPH was 2.8 x 10(-5) M and 7.6 x 10(-4) M in beard and occipital scalp hair dermal papilla cells, respectively. There were no significant differences in the substrate specificity between these two types of cells. The 5 alpha-reductase activity was recovered mainly in the nuclear fraction of beard dermal papilla cells. By contrast, it was widely distributed among the individual subcellular fractions of dermal papilla cells from occipital scalp hair. These results strongly suggest that these two kinds of dermal papilla cells have different types of 5 alpha-reductase, and that the enzyme in beard dermal papilla cells is similar in characteristics to that in the androgen target organs such as prostate.

SUMMARYPrevious studies using in vitro systems with various stimuli have shown that PBMC from patients with AD show increased levels of IL-4 but decreased levels of interferon-gamma (IFN-g) compared with PBMC from normal controls. However, in vitro conditions do not always mimic the in vivo condition. We therefore believe that it is important to quantify the expression of these cytokines in freshly isolated PBMC. This study examines the expression of IFN-g, IL-4 and IL-13 mRNA in freshly isolated PBMC from adult patients with AD, from patients with psoriasis vulgaris and from healthy adults, using the semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method. Levels of IFN-g mRNA were significantly lower in PBMC of patients with AD than in controls. IL-4 mRNA levels did not differ significantly between groups. Conversely, levels of mRNA for IL-13 were significantly greater in PBMC of patients with AD than in controls. An increase in IL-13 expression may regulate the in vivo synthesis of IgE in patients with AD.