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High expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase correlates with intestinal inflammation of interleukin-2-deficient
M Harren1, G Schönfelder, M Paul
1Freie Universität Berlin, Universitätsklinikum Benjamin Franklin, Department of Gastroenterology and Infectiology, Germany.
Abstract:
Severely inflamed colonic sections of IL-2 (-/-) mice showed up to 19-fold increased iNOS mRNA levels. The level of iNOS protein expression corresponded to the increased iNOS mRNA levels as detected by means of Western blot analysis. There was a clear, positive relationship between the level of iNOS expression and the degree of inflammation in the colonic tissue of IL-2 (-/-) and wild-type mice. Our data suggest that iNOS may play a key role in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis-like disease in IL-2 (-/-) mice. Further investigation should elucidate the impact of NO on the regulation of the inflammatory process in this model and might contribute to a better understanding of the role iNOS expression in human immune-mediated diseases.