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Thromb Haemost 1998; 79(05): 959-962
DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1615102
Review Article
Schattauer GmbH

Cytokine Gene Expression in Human LPS- and IFNγ-stimulated Mononuclear Cells Is Inhibited by Heparin

Monica Attanasio
1   From the Istituto di Clinica Medica Generale e Cardiologia, University of Florence, Florence
,
Anna Maria Gori
1   From the Istituto di Clinica Medica Generale e Cardiologia, University of Florence, Florence
,
Betti Giusti
1   From the Istituto di Clinica Medica Generale e Cardiologia, University of Florence, Florence
,
Guglielmina Pepe
1   From the Istituto di Clinica Medica Generale e Cardiologia, University of Florence, Florence
2   From the Dipartimento di Biologia, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy
,
Paolo Comeglio
1   From the Istituto di Clinica Medica Generale e Cardiologia, University of Florence, Florence
,
Tamara Brunelli
1   From the Istituto di Clinica Medica Generale e Cardiologia, University of Florence, Florence
,
Domenico Prisco
1   From the Istituto di Clinica Medica Generale e Cardiologia, University of Florence, Florence
,
Rosanna Abbate
1   From the Istituto di Clinica Medica Generale e Cardiologia, University of Florence, Florence
,
Gian Franco Gensini
1   From the Istituto di Clinica Medica Generale e Cardiologia, University of Florence, Florence
,
Gian Gastone Neri Serneri
1   From the Istituto di Clinica Medica Generale e Cardiologia, University of Florence, Florence
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Received 02 July 1997

Accepted after resubmission 05 January 1998

Publication Date:
07 December 2017 (online)

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Summary

In addition to its well-understood anticoagulant activity, heparin is known to modulate a variety of biological functions including immuno-logic responses. In order to investigate whether heparin influences the humoral immunity by interacting with cellular elements and affecting gene expression in blood circulating cells, we studied the effect of heparin on IL-1β, IL-6 and TNFα mRNAs in human lipopolysaccharide(LPS)- or interferon-γ(IFNγ)-stimulated mononuclear cells. The study of mRNA was carried out by an initial PCR screening followed by a Northern blot quantitative analysis. Heparin (0.5 U/ml) turned out to inhibit all three cytokine gene expressions. The mRNA decrease was 37 ± 6% for IL-1 β, 53 ± 3% for IL-6 and 47 ± 4% for TNF α with LPS stimulus. No differences could be observed in the inhibitory effect of heparin on IFNγ-stimulated cells. This effect of heparin was confirmed in a subset of experiments performed on purified monocytes. These results suggest an important immunosuppressive effect of heparin on cell-mediated immune responses.

 

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