0000000000550302
AUTHOR
Ulrike Tontsch
Cortical neurons selectively inhibit MHC class II induction in astrocytes but not in microglial cells.
Astrocytes have been shown to act as potent accessory cells for MHC class II-restricted T cell responses in vitro after treatment with interferon-gamma. In contrast, even under conditions of severe central nervous system (CNS) inflammation, they seem to express little, if any, class II molecules in vivo. Thus the role of astroglial cells as accessory cells in immune responses in the CNS remains to be determined. We have studied neuron--glia interactions with respect to induction of MHC class II molecules. Surprisingly, in a co-culture system, viable neurons inhibited the induction of class II restriction elements on astrocytes. This effect was only observed when neurons had contact to astro…
Interleukin-6 production in "normal" and HTLV-1 tax-expressing brain-specific endothelial cells.
Abnormal cytokine production can contribute in many instances to the development of pathology. Our study focuses on the regulation of interleukin (IL)-6 production in vitro in brain-specific endothelial cells (BEC) under physiological conditions and in a model of human T leukemia virus-1 (HTLV-1) infection. IL-6 production was strongly up-regulated in a dose-dependent mode upon exposure to recombinant IL-1 beta, although nearly not detectable in unstimulated BEC. This induction of IL-6 production could be achieved by reagents known to increase intracellular levels of cAMP, such as forskolin, prostaglandin E or pentoxifylline. Furthermore, transcription and production of IL-6 was inducible b…