The Journal of immunology : official journal of the American Association of Immunologists
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IL-9 is a Th2 cytokine that exerts pleiotropic activities on T cells, B cells, mast cells, hematopoietic progenitors, and lung epithelial cells, but no effect of this cytokine has been reported so far on mononuclear phagocytes. Human blood monocytes preincubated with IL-9 for 24 h before LPS or PMA stimulation exhibited a decreased oxidative burst, even in the presence of IFN-gamma. The inhibitory effect of IL-9 was specifically abolished by anti-hIL-9R mAb, and the presence of IL-9 receptors was demonstrated on human blood monocytes by FACS. ⋯ In contrast, IL-4, which exerts a similar inhibitory effect on the oxidative burst and TNF-alpha release by monocytes, acts primarily through a down-regulation of LPS receptors. Thus, IL-9 deactivates LPS-stimulated blood mononuclear phagocytes, and the mechanism of inhibition involves the potentiation of TGF-beta1 production and extracellular signal-regulated kinase inhibition. These findings highlight a new target cell for IL-9 and may account for the beneficial activity of IL-9 in animal models of exaggerated inflammatory response.
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Leptin is an adipocyte-derived hormone that is secreted in correlation with total body lipid stores. Serum leptin levels are lowered by the loss of body fat mass that would accompany starvation and malnutrition. Recently, leptin has been shown to modulate innate immune responses such as macrophage phagocytosis and cytokine synthesis in vitro. ⋯ While there were no differences between wild-type and leptin-deficient mice in lung homogenate cytokines TNF-alpha, IL-12, or macrophage-inflammatory protein-2 after K. pneumoniae administration, leukotriene synthesis in lung macrophages from leptin-deficient mice was reduced. Leukotriene production was restored by the addition of exogenous leptin (500 ng/ml) to macrophages in vitro. This study demonstrates for the first time that leptin-deficient mice display impaired host defense in bacterial pneumonia that may be due to a defect in alveolar macrophage phagocytosis and leukotriene synthesis.