Leptin enhances the release of cytokines by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from acute multiple sclerosis patients / 神经科学通报·英文版

Objective To explore the effect of leptin on cytokine production by PBMCs obtained from MS patients either in acute (relapse) or in stable (nonrelapse) phase of disease. Methods PBMCs were collected from 25 untreated acute MS patients, 11 stable MS patients and 20 healthy controls. PBMCs were cultured either with RPMI-1640 alone or with leptin (1.25 nmol/ml), phytohemagglutinin (PHA) (100 mug/ml), and leptin + PHA. 72 h later the supernate of the culture medium were collected and stored at -70 degrees C. The pro-inflammatory cytokine (IFN-gamma) concentration were determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA), and the anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-4) concentration were investigated by radioimmunity methods. Results Our data showed that leptin induced IFN-gamma production by PBMCs of patients in an acute phase of disease but not in a stable phase or in healthy controls. Moreover, we found that PHA induced IL-4 production by PBMCs of patients in an acute phase of disease, but leptin inhibited this ability of PHA. Conclusion Leptin can affect on pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine production by PBMCs collected from MS patients, may be this connected with leptin increase the susceptiveness of MS.

Clinical effect of Tripterygiitotorum combined with prednisone and its effect on serum IL-6 level in treating patients with myasthenia gravis / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the clinical effect of Tripterygiitotorum (T II) combined with prednisone in treating patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) and the changes of immune function after treatment.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty-eight patients with MG were randomly divided into two groups, the 36 patients in the treated group were treated with T II plus prednisone and the 32 in the control group were treated with prednisone alone. The therapeutic effect, serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) and peripheral B lymphocyte levels were observed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The therapeutic effect in the treated group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05). There were significant decrease in serum IL-6 and peripheral B lymphocyte in both groups after treatment (P < 0.05), with the decrements more significant in the treated group (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The therapy of T II plus prednisone is superior to that of prednisone alone in treating MG, it has a more potent effect of immunosuppression.</p>