Down-modulation of lung immune responses by interleukin-10 and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) and analysis of TGF-beta receptors I and II in active tuberculosis.

ABSTRACT: Immune factors influencing progression to active tuberculosis (TB) remain poorly defined. In this study, we investigated the expression of immunoregulatory cytokines and receptors by using lung bronchoalveolar lavage cells obtained from patients with pulmonary TB, patients with other lung diseases (OLD patients), and healthy volunteers (VOL) by using reverse transcriptase PCR, a transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) bioactivity assay, and an enzyme immunoassay. TB patients were significantly more likely than OLD patients to coexpress TGF-beta receptor I (RI) and RII mRNA, as well as interleukin-10 (IL-10) mRNA (thereby indicating the state of active gene transcription in the alveolar cells at harvest). In contrast, gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) and IL-2 mRNA was seen in both TB and OLD

SUBMITTER: Bonecini-Almeida MG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC387880 | biostudies-literature | 2004 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature