Increased spontaneous secretion of IL-6 from B cells of patients with B chronic lymphatic leukaemia (B-CLL) and autoimmunity. |
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| Authors: | N Lahat E Aghai B Maroun A Kinarty M Quitt P Froom |
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| Affiliation: | Immunology Unit, Kupat Holim Lady Davis Carmel Hospital, Haifa, Israel. |
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| Abstract: | We studied B cells from 18 patients with B-CLL, six of them with autoimmune haemolytic anaemia, for spontaneous secretion of IL-6. Our aim was to determine whether the increased incidence of autoimmune disease found in B-CLL patients is associated with enhanced spontaneous IL-6 secretion. IL-6 was measured by the effect of B cell supernatants on the proliferation of an IL-6 dependent plasmacytoma cell line T1165. The highest IL-6 values (7.4 +/- 1.8 U/ml) were measured in supernatants derived on day 3 of culture from lymphocytes of the six patients with B-CLL and concomitant autoimmune disease. The maximal IL-6 values for 10 patients with B-CLL only were 2.8 +/- 0.3 U/ml and for 10 age-matched controls, 0.8 +/- 0.3 U/ml (P less than 0.01, each group compared with the other). We conclude that there is an association between B-CLL, autoimmune disease and the spontaneous in vitro secretion of IL-6. Further studies are needed to determine whether the IL-6 secretion plays a role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease in patients with B-CLL. |
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| Keywords: | IL-6 secretion chronic lymphatic leukaemia and autoimmunity |
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