Related Experiment Videos
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay quantification of cytokine concentrations in human meningiomas
E I Levy1, J E Paino, P S Sarin
1School of Medicine, George Washington University, District of Columbia, USA.
Objective:
To gain insight into the network of cytokine gene expression in the brain tumor microenvironment, we investigated the presence of the following cytokines in freshly excised brain tumors: interleukin (IL)-1 beta, IL-2, IL-4, and IL-6.
Methods:
Tumor specimens from nine meningiomas were grown as tissue explants. The supernatants from the explants were tested for the presence of the aforementioned cytokines via the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method.
Results:
IL-6, which is thought to stimulate acute protein phase synthesis, neovascularization, and cell proliferation, was found in all of the samples in greater concentrations than the other cytokines tested. IL-1 beta, another stimulatory cytokine thought to be involved in acute protein phase synthesis and cell proliferation, was also found in 100% of the samples tested, in concentrations significantly lower than those of IL-6. As expected, the presence of IL-2 and IL-4 was not detectable in any of the samples.
Conclusion:
This study is the first to clearly determine the relative concentrations of IL-1 beta and IL-6, using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay quantification. These findings are an important precursor to future studies using antibodies to IL-1 beta and IL-6 and antibodies to IL-6 receptors to modulate neoplastic growth both in vitro and in vivo.