[The role of prostaglandins in the inflammation and immunity of human palatine tonsils].

It is well known that prostaglanding are biological mediators which are closely related to inflammation and immunity. To explore the role of PGE2 and PGF2 alpha in inflammation and immunity of human palatine tonsils, the levels of PGE2 and PGF2 alpha in diseased tonsils from 62 patients were measured. It is suggested that PGE2 and PGF2 alpha are present in the tonsillar tissue as inflammatory mediators. The levels of PGE2 and PGF2 alpha may be regarded as the major indicators of activation in chronic tonsillitis and represent the immunologic function of the palatine tonsils to a certain degree. The impairment of the ability of immunologic response in tonsils by inflammation may be related to PGE2. The more severe the inflammation, the more hazardous to the local immunologic defence of tonsils is. It is possible that PGE2 plays an important role in this respect.