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Biotech / Medical : Regeneron Pharmaceuticals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Miljenko Zuanic who wrote (585)	10/31/2001 9:16:51 PM
From: Miljenko Zuanic	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3559

IL-4 Splice Variant Levels Not Elevated in Atopic Asthma Patients -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Oct 30 - While total interleukin-4 mRNA levels are elevated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from atopic asthma patients, IL-4 splice variant mRNA levels are not, according to a recent report. Dr. Graham A. W. Rook, from the Windeyer Institute of Medical Sciences in London, and colleagues measured mRNA levels of IL-4 and its splice variant in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from nine atopic asthma patients, 18 tuberculous patients, and 18 healthy subjects. The median IL-4 mRNA level in cells from asthma patients was 2.8 and 4.5 logs higher than the levels in cells from tuberculosis patients and healthy subjects, respectively. In contrast, the median IL-4 splice variant mRNA levels were similar in cells from all three groups. The median IL-4 to IL-4 splice variant ratio was up to 500-fold higher in patients with atopic asthma. "This study is the first to characterize IL-4 splice variant gene expression in patients with significant clinical and laboratory-documented atopy and asthma that has been persistent since diagnosis," the researchers note in the September 15th issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Further studies are needed to determine the relative roles of IL-4 and its splice variant in the pathogenesis of the fibrotic and atopic aspects of pulmonary disease, the investigators state. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2001;164:1016-1018.