PubMed · 1718384
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D G James. 1991. Which immunomodulator?. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1718384/
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IL-12 has been shown to be important in the generation of a functional Th1 response in animal models of both infectious and autoimmune disease. Furthermore, the role of IL-12 in the maintenance of the immune responses in these diseases is now emerging. Herein, we discuss the idea that memory responses for certain infections may be IL-12 independent, whereas memory responses for specific autoimmune diseases still require IL-12 to maintain a pathogenic response.
Elevated zinc serum concentrations have been shown to restore impaired immune response. Therefore, pharmacologic zinc supplementation has been used to improve immune function, particularly in intensive care patients. In these patients, Gramnegative sepsis, the symptoms of which are predominantly caused by LPS-induced release of monokines, represents a serious problem. We have recently shown that zinc enhances induction of TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta in cultures of PBMC by LPS. By fluorescence polarization and infrared spectroscopic measurements we found that zinc addition leads to decreased fluidity of the hydrocarbon chains of LPS. Experiments at different temperatures showed that the less fluid gel (beta) phase of LPS is more effective in cytokine induction than the more fluid liquid-crystalline (alpha) phase. Our studies suggest that the synergistic effect of zinc on monokine induction by LPS is caused by direct interaction of zinc with LPS altering the fluidity of the hydrocarbon chains. Although this effect is zinc specific, other divalent ions, like cobalt and nickel, with a complex structure and size comparable to those of zinc also enhance LPS-induced monokine secretion but to a much lesser extent. Our data indicate that the zinc level represents a relevant clinical parameter in the treatment of Gram-negative infection. This reveals potential risks in the therapeutic application of zinc.
In this report, we describe a strategy for enhancing the immunogenicity of a wide variety of Ags by linking them to IL-2 via an IgG3-IL-2 fusion protein with high affinity for a convenient hapten Ag, dansyl (DNS; N,N-dimethyl-1-aminonaphthalene-5-sulfonyl chloride). This fusion protein, anti-DNS-IgG3-IL-2, combines the functional characteristics of its constituents and has pharmacokinetic properties that are greatly improved over those of IL-2 and a previously described IgG1-IL-2 fusion. The molecule is intact and recoverable from the blood of mice hours after i.p. injection and reaches distant organs throughout the animal. The 7-h in vivo half-life of this molecule is much longer than that of IL-2, addressing a major obstacle in the application of IL-2 to human diseases, including cancer and AIDS. Additionally, the Ab's specificity for the hapten dansyl and the convenient chemistry of dansyl provide a means to link IL-2 to virtually any molecule of interest without the complexities and uncertainties of making IL-2 fusions with each molecule individually. Using hapten-conjugated-BSA (DNS-BSA) as a model Ag we show that the Ab response elicited by anti-DNS-IgG3-IL-2-bound DNS-BSA-Sepharose injected into mice is increased over that of DNS-BSA-Sepharose or anti-DNS-IgG3-bound DNS-BSA-Sepharose. Anti-DNS-IgG3-IL-2 also increased the Ab response to soluble DNS-BSA after a booster injection. This system should be useful in testing the ability of IL-2 to potentiate the immune response to Ag and in screening a large number of potential Ags for use in vaccines. The dramatically improved pharmacokinetics should also overcome one of the major difficulties in applying IL-2 to the treatment of human disease, its short half-life.