Takizawa R, Ohnishi M
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan.
Nihon Ika Daigaku Zasshi. 1997 Feb;64(1):45-52. doi: 10.1272/jnms1923.64.45.
Allergic rhinitis and nasal polyposis are upper airway inflammatory conditions characterized by increased numbers of eosinophils and metachromatic cells in the epithelial layer of the nasal mucosa. However, the mechanism by which these cells accumulate still remains obscure in many respects. It is suggested that the granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) plays an important role in the nasal mucosa, since the supernatant of cultured epithelial cells induce differentiation of peripheral mononuclear cells into metachromatic cells and eosinophils, and this activity was inhibited by the anti-GM-CSF antibody. In addition, the presence of several cytokines in the supernatant of nasal epithelial cell cultures has been reported. These observations suggest the possibility that GM-CSF and cytokines play an important role in the allergic and inflammatory reactions of the nasal mucosa. In the present study epithelial cells of nasal mucosa were cultured under different conditions to find out the optimal conditions of production for GM-CSF and interleukin-6 (IL-6). When the concentration of fetal calf serum (FCS) in the culture medium was varied, the number of cultured epithelial cells and the concentration of GM-CSF and IL-6 in the supernatant showed an FCS concentration-dependent increase. When nasal mucosal epithelial cells were cultured in 15% FCS, production of both GM-CSF and IL-6 was increased with increasing duration of incubation. There was no significant difference in production of GM-CSF or IL-6 between the patients with allergic rhinitis and those with nasal polyps. These results suggest that neither allergic rhinitis and nor nasal polyposis are associated with the ability of epithelial cells to produce cytokines, but the interplay of various factors in the epithelial layer, as well as of diseases, affects their ability to produce cytokines. When the condition of epithelial cell propagation was rendered favorable or unfavorable by varying the concentration of FCS in the culture medium, using the same culture system, production of GM-CSF and IL-6 was increased in a dose-dependent manner (%) favoring epithelial cell growth. These observations indicate that epithelial cells produce GM-CSF and IL-6 only when conditions are favorable for their proliferation is required.
变应性鼻炎和鼻息肉是上气道炎症性疾病，其特征是鼻黏膜上皮层中嗜酸性粒细胞和异染细胞数量增加。然而，这些细胞积聚的机制在许多方面仍不清楚。有人提出粒细胞-巨噬细胞集落刺激因子（GM-CSF）在鼻黏膜中起重要作用，因为培养的上皮细胞的上清液可诱导外周单核细胞分化为异染细胞和嗜酸性粒细胞，且这种活性被抗GM-CSF抗体所抑制。此外，有报道称鼻上皮细胞培养上清液中存在几种细胞因子。这些观察结果提示GM-CSF和细胞因子可能在鼻黏膜的变应性和炎症反应中起重要作用。在本研究中，在不同条件下培养鼻黏膜上皮细胞，以找出GM-CSF和白细胞介素-6（IL-6）的最佳产生条件。当培养基中胎牛血清（FCS）的浓度变化时，培养的上皮细胞数量以及上清液中GM-CSF和IL-6的浓度呈FCS浓度依赖性增加。当鼻黏膜上皮细胞在15% FCS中培养时，GM-CSF和IL-6的产生均随孵育时间的延长而增加。变应性鼻炎患者和鼻息肉患者之间GM-CSF或IL-6的产生没有显著差异。这些结果表明，变应性鼻炎和鼻息肉均与上皮细胞产生细胞因子的能力无关，但上皮层中各种因素以及疾病之间的相互作用会影响它们产生细胞因子的能力。当通过改变培养基中FCS的浓度使上皮细胞增殖条件变得有利或不利时，使用相同的培养系统，GM-CSF和IL-6的产生以有利于上皮细胞生长的剂量依赖性方式（%）增加。这些观察结果表明，上皮细胞仅在有利于其增殖的条件下才产生GM-CSF和IL-6。
