Jay
Thu, May-10-07, 06:15
http://www.jleukbio.org/cgi/rapidpdf/jlb.0706467v1.pdf
"Mercury is an important environmental pollutant and toxin, to
which exposure has been immunosuppressive, leading to
autoimmune and allergic manifestaions...In our studies, we
have used concentrations of 20 ng/ ml or lower, which is
readily achievable during childhood vaccinations".
Thimerosal induces TH2 responses via influencing cytokine
secretion by human dendritic cells.Agrawal A, Kaushal P,
Agrawal S, Gollapudi S, Gupta S. Division of Basic and
Clinical Immunology, University of California, Irvine, CA
92697, USA. aagrawal@uci.edu
Thimerosal is an organic mercury compound that is used as a
preservative in vaccines and pharmaceutical products. Recent
studies have shown a TH2-skewing effect of mercury, although
the underlying mechanisms have not been identified. In this
study, we investigated whether thimerosal can exercise a
TH2-promoting effect through modulation of functions of
dendritic cells (DC). Thimerosal, in a concentration-dependent
manner, inhibited the secretion of LPS-induced proinflammatory
cytokines TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-12p70 from human
monocyte-derived DC. However, the secretion of IL-10 from DC
was not affected. These thimerosal-exposed DC induced
increased TH2 (IL-5 and IL-13) and decreased TH1 (IFN-gamma)
cytokine secretion from the T cells in the absence of
additional thimerosal added to the coculture. Thimerosal
exposure of DC led to the depletion of intracellular
glutathione (GSH), and addition of exogenous GSH to DC
abolished the TH2-promoting effect of thimerosal-treated DC,
restoring secretion of TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-12p70 by DC and
IFN-gamma secretion by T cells. These data suggest that
modulation of TH2 responses by mercury and thimerosal, in
particular, is through depletion of GSH in DC.
PMID: 17079650 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?-
db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17079650&q-
uery_hl=62&itool=pubmed_docsum
"Mercury is an important environmental pollutant and toxin, to
which exposure has been immunosuppressive, leading to
autoimmune and allergic manifestaions...In our studies, we
have used concentrations of 20 ng/ ml or lower, which is
readily achievable during childhood vaccinations".
Thimerosal induces TH2 responses via influencing cytokine
secretion by human dendritic cells.Agrawal A, Kaushal P,
Agrawal S, Gollapudi S, Gupta S. Division of Basic and
Clinical Immunology, University of California, Irvine, CA
92697, USA. aagrawal@uci.edu
Thimerosal is an organic mercury compound that is used as a
preservative in vaccines and pharmaceutical products. Recent
studies have shown a TH2-skewing effect of mercury, although
the underlying mechanisms have not been identified. In this
study, we investigated whether thimerosal can exercise a
TH2-promoting effect through modulation of functions of
dendritic cells (DC). Thimerosal, in a concentration-dependent
manner, inhibited the secretion of LPS-induced proinflammatory
cytokines TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-12p70 from human
monocyte-derived DC. However, the secretion of IL-10 from DC
was not affected. These thimerosal-exposed DC induced
increased TH2 (IL-5 and IL-13) and decreased TH1 (IFN-gamma)
cytokine secretion from the T cells in the absence of
additional thimerosal added to the coculture. Thimerosal
exposure of DC led to the depletion of intracellular
glutathione (GSH), and addition of exogenous GSH to DC
abolished the TH2-promoting effect of thimerosal-treated DC,
restoring secretion of TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-12p70 by DC and
IFN-gamma secretion by T cells. These data suggest that
modulation of TH2 responses by mercury and thimerosal, in
particular, is through depletion of GSH in DC.
PMID: 17079650 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?-
db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17079650&q-
uery_hl=62&itool=pubmed_docsum