ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of IL-10 on the inducibility of human beta-defensin 2 (hBD-2) in human peripheral blood cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Peripheral blood samples were collected from 22 healthy individuals and co-cultured with 0 ng/ml lipopolysaccharide (LPS), 100 ng/ml LPS, 10 ng/ml IL-10, or 100 ng/ml LPS plus 10 ng/ml IL-10 at 37 degree for 6 h. Total RNA was extracted from peripheral blood cells and the mRNA level of hBD-2 was detected by relative quantitative real-time PCR..</p><p><b>RESULT</b>No detectable level of hBD-2 mRNA was found in normal peripheral blood cells with stimulation of 0 ng/ml LPS or 10 ng/ml IL-10. The mRNA level of hBD-2 was increased to 166.9 +/- 35.14 after 100 ng/ml LPS challenge, while the mRNA level of hBD-2 was decreased to 30.40 +/- 9.18 after the co-stimulation of 100 ng/ml LPS plus 10 ng/ml IL-10; which was significantly lower than that with LPS alone (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The expression of hBD-2 gene can be induced by LPS.IL-10 inhibits the inducible expression of hBD-2.</p>