Expression of interleukin-16 by tumor-associated macrophages/activated microglia in high-grade astrocytic brain tumors
Open Access
- 15 January 2007
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH in Archivum Immunologiae et Therapiae Experimentalis
- Vol. 55 (1), 41-47
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00005-007-0003-0
Abstract
Introduction Macrophages/microglial cells are considered as immune cells in the central nervous system. Interleukin (IL)-16 is a proinflammatory cytokine produced by activated monocytic cells. Materials and Methods Expression of IL-16 was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in human astrocytic brain tumors and the rat C6 glioblastoma tumor model. IL-16 was detected in both human astrocytic brain tumors and rat C6 glioma. Results Compared with human control brains, a significant increase in the percentages of parenchymal IL-16+ macrophages/microglia was observed already in grade II astrocytomas, indicating that IL-16+ immunostaining could be a descriptor of a macrophage/microglia subset in astrocytic brain tumors. A further increase was observed at the transition from grade II to III astrocytomas. This increase in IL-16 immunoreactivity correlated with WHO grades of human astrocytic brain tumors. Conclusions Therefore, IL-16 might be a so far unknown factor in the regulation of the local inflammatory milieu of human and experimental astrocytomas.Keywords
This publication has 25 references indexed in Scilit:
- Inflammation by remote controlNature, 2005
- Smoldering and polarized inflammation in the initiation and promotion of malignant diseaseCancer Cell, 2005
- Microglia, macrophages, perivascular macrophages, and pericytes: a review of function and identificationJournal of Leukocyte Biology, 2003
- Dystrophic microglia in the aging human brainGlia, 2003
- Inflammation and cancerNature, 2002
- Microglia in brain tumorsGlia, 2002
- Tumor-Associated Macrophages Express Lymphatic Endothelial Growth Factors and Are Related to Peritumoral LymphangiogenesisThe American Journal of Pathology, 2002
- The role of microglia and macrophages in the pathophysiology of the CNSProgress in Neurobiology, 1999
- Signaling and Functional Properties of lnterleukin-16International Reviews of Immunology, 1998
- Interleukin-16 or not?Nature, 1996