Development and use a novel combined in-vivo and in-vitro assay for anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive agents

ABSTRACT

Contact hypersensitivity [CHS] mouse model induced by 2, 4-dinitrofluorobenzene [DNFB] is thought to be a T helper 1 [Th1]-dominant response and used for investigating anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive agents. However, it is hardly used for screening large-scale drugs because of the large number of animals and complex mechanisms involved in-vivo. In this study, we focused on whether T lymphocytes from CHS mouse model could maintain the state of immune response in-vitro and explored a suitable time for drugs screening. The results showed that CD4[+] T cells of CHS mice were higher compared with those in normal group. The expression of T-bet and GATA3 showed a Th1 shift and the levels of interleukin [IL]-2 and IL-4 also showed similar trend. Furthermore, IL-6 produced by T lymphocytes from CHS mice had a high level too. Then, we detected the effects of dexamethasone [DEX], cyclosporine A [CsA] and mycophenolate mofetil [MMF] on T lymphocytes in-vitro, and the data displayed that these immunosuppressive drugs could all inhibit the proliferation of T lymphocytes significantly. These findings suggested that T lymphocytes from CHS mice could mimic a similar immune response in-vitro, and it's also a suitable method for screening anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive agents