Studies on tumor necrosis factor (TNF). III. Plasma disappearance curves after intramuscular, subcutaneous, intraperitoneal, and oral administration of human recombinant TNF

Oropharyngeal administration of colostrum to extremely low birth weight infants: theoretical perspectives

Studies in adults have shown that the oropharyngeal route can be used to effectively and safely administer interferon-alpha, an immune cell-derived cytokine, to patients who are unable to tolerate its parenteral administration. The mechanism for this appears to be the stimulatory effects of the cytokine, on the oropharyngeal-associated lymphoid tissue system. Own mother's colostrum (OMC) is rich in cytokines and other immune agents that provide bacteriostatic, bacteriocidal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory protection against infection. OMC may be especially protective for the extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infant in the first days of life; however clinical instability typically precludes enteral feedings during this period. Oropharyngeal administration is a potential alternative method of providing OMC. Oropharyngeal administration of OMC may have immunomodulatory effects on the recipient infant, and would be especially beneficial to the ELBW infant who would otherwise remain nil per os during the first days of life.

Hyperthermia decreases cytokine-mediated adhesion molecule expression on human umbilical vein endothelial cells

Although hyperthermia has been used as an effective cancer treatment modality, its effects on metastasis of tumour cells are not clear. Since adhesion molecules play a key role in metastasis, we evaluated how the expression of adhesion molecules is influenced by hyperthermia. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells were incubated in vitro for 1 h. at 39, 42, 43 and 44 degrees C with and without addition of tumour-necrosis factor (TNF) or interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and the expression of endothelial cell leukocyte adhesion molecule-1 (ELAM-1), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class-II molecule was measured. Expression of MHC class-II molecules and expression of unstimulated constituent ICAM-1's was not reduced by heat treatment. In contrast, expression of cytokine-induced ELAM-1's and ICAM-1's was significantly lower after heat treatment. The adhesion to HUVEC in vitro of HL-60 leukemia cells, which express sialyl-Lewis-x antigen as a ligand to ELAM-1, was diminished after incubation at 42 degrees C and totally lost after treatment at 44 degrees C. This suggests that any decrease in metastasis formation after heat treatment, which is occasionally observed, could be due to a reduced action of TNF or related cytokines on adhesion molecule induction and subsequent membrane expression by the endothelial cell. A possible underlying mechanism involved is a heat-induced alteration or blockage of the biosynthetic pathways required for synthesis of ELAM-1 and ICAM-1 proteins.