[Gene expression in murine splenocytes induced by soluble beta-glucan]

SCG is a 6-branched 1,3-β-D-glucan, and is a major cell wall structural component in fungi. The leukocytes from DBA/1 and DBA/2 mice are highly sensitive to SCG, producing cytokines, such as GM-CSF, IFN-γ and TNF-α. GM-CSF plays a key biological role in this activity. We analyzed factors induced by SCG in splenocytes from DBA/2 mice by DNA microarray analysis on the condition of high sensitivity to β-glucan. Splenocytes were stimulated with SCG at 0, 24 or 30 h, and then supernatant was collected at 48 h to measure cytokines. SCG stimulated splenocytes to produce GM-CSF, IFN-γ and TNF-α in all the supernatants of 0, 24, and 30 h. The amount of IFN-γ production thus stimulated at 24 h was comparable to that at 0 h. Cytokine induction was observed at 4 h after SCG-stimulation even in the splenocytes pre-cultured for 36 h. The gene expression induced by SCG was analyzed with DNA microarray in the splenocytes in this condition. SCG up-regulated the expression of genes including Edn1 and Ptgs2 as well as genes associated with cytokine and chemokine. PGE(2) was detected in the medium of splenocytes stimulated with SCG. Taken together, these results indicated that splenocytes enhanced the sensitivity to SCG in earlier culture periods, and then responded to SCG to induce not only the cytokines but also various other factors.