Effects of Sulfur Mustard on Cytokines Released from Cultured Human Epidermal Keratinocytes

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The release of the cytokines interleukin (IL)-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α was measured from epiderm alkeratinocytes in an attempt to characterize the immunologic response in keratinocytes following exposure to bis (2-chloroethyl)sulfide (sulfur mustard, HD). Enzyme-linked immunosorbentassay (ELISA) was used to measure cytokine levels in adult and neonatal culture human epidermal keratinocytes (HEK) 3 h after exposure to 0.50 and 1.0 m M HD. A two-way analysis of variance was carried out for cell type and HD concentration. That analysis showed significant differences between cell types for IL-1α and IL-1β(p =.001 and p =.015, respectively). In both of these cytokines, release in neonatal HEK decreased less than in adult HEK. A significant effectof HD concentration was shown only for IL-1β (P <.001), with cytokine release decreasing with increasing HD dose. In addition, a significant cell donor type by HD concentration interaction effect was found for IL-1β under the experimental conditions described in materials and methods. With increasing HD concentration, the relative decrease in cytokine release was much greater for adult than for neonatal HEK.