[Spontaneous interleukin 1 secretion by alveolar macrophages from the bronchoalveolar lavage of patients with active sarcoidosis].

Alveolar macrophages from 28 patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis, from 6 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and from 8 control subjects were tested for their spontaneous interleukin-1 release. Whereas alveolar macrophages from the controls and from the patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis did not show a significant release of interleukin 1, 14 of the sarcoidosis patients displayed a considerable spontaneous interleukin-1 secretion. Besides radiographic signs of an increased disease activity these patients revealed a significantly elevated number of lymphocytes and a significantly increased T4/T8-ratio in the bronchoalveolar lavage indicating an enhanced inflammatory activity of sarcoidosis. The spontaneous interleukin-1 release is possibly due to a raised number of immature alveolar macrophages in the lung of patients with sarcoidosis.