Lymphotoxin in nonspecific inflammatory bowel disease lymphocytes

Inhibition of cytotoxicity by sulfasalazine. I. Sulfasalazine inhibits spontaneous cell-mediated cytotoxicity by peripheral blood and intestinal mononuclear cells from control and inflammatory bowel disease patients

We have studied the effects of sulfasalazine and its metabolites on cell-mediated cytotoxicity by peripheral blood and intestinal mononuclear cells from both control and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. Sulfasalazine and sulfapyridine, as well as hydrocortisone and nordihydroguaiaretic acid inhibited spontaneous cell-mediated cytotoxicity by control and IBD peripheral blood cells. Sulfasalazine and nordihydroguaiaretic acid inhibited spontaneous cell-mediated cytotoxicity by control and IBD intestinal mononuclear cells cultured for 72 h in media alone. In contrast, 5-aminosalicylate, indomethacin and benzylimidazole had no effect on cytotoxicity by any cell population. Lectin-induced, antibody-dependent and interleukin-2-induced cell-mediated cytotoxicity, as well as lymphokine-activated killing were not inhibited by the drugs: inhibitory effects in these assays were primarily upon the underlying spontaneous cell-mediated cytotoxicity. The inhibition induced by sulfasalazine, sulfapyridine and nordihydroguaiaretic acid could not be reversed by adding the lipoxygenase metabolites leukotriene B4 or 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid. These findings demonstrate that spontaneous cell-mediated cytotoxicity by control and IBD mononuclear cells can be inhibited by sulfasalazine.

Deficient cell-mediated cytotoxicity and hyporesponsiveness to interferon and mitogenic lectin activation by inflammatory bowel disease peripheral blood and intestinal mononuclear cells

Intestinal mononuclear cells are poor mediators of spontaneous and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. In this study, we found that both interferon and mitogenic lectins were able to induce increased levels of cell-mediated cytotoxicity by intestinal mononuclear cells. Intestinal mononuclear cells from patients with inflammatory bowel disease exhibited hyporesponsiveness to cytotoxic activation by interferon or lectins compared with control intestinal mononuclear cells. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with Crohn's disease exhibited deficient spontaneous and antibody-dependent cytotoxicity that could be partially reversed by interferon or mitogenic lectins. These studies demonstrate that exogenous agents or endogenous factors can induce deficient intestinal and peripheral blood cytotoxic effector cells from inflammatory bowel disease patients to become active. In comparison with control cells, however, intestinal and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from inflammatory bowel disease patients are not only deficient in cytotoxic capabilities but also are hyporesponsive to interferon and lectin activation.