Expression of cytokines on human bronchial epithelial cells induced by influenza virus A.

Bronchial epithelial cells play an important role in the pathogenesis of some inflammatory diseases of bronchial mucosa. Epithelial-cell-derived cytokines are important in the elucidation of the mechanism by which airway inflammation occurs, especially in respiratory virus infection, because these cells are the primary sites of viral infection. We infected bronchial epithelial cells, NCI-H292, with influenza virus A (H3N2) and examined the concentrations of cytokines, interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8 and regulated on activation, normal T cells, expressed and secreted (RANTES), in the culture media of infected cells using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay system and gene expression of RANTES on epithelial cells by the reverse-transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction method. We found that significant amounts of IL-6, IL-8 and RANTES were released. RANTES mRNA was also detected in infected bronchial epithelial cells. It is suggested that cytokine production in human bronchial epithelial cells may contribute to the pathogenesis of airway inflammatory disorders.