Effect of TGF-β1 on the Expression of IL-12, IL-15, IL-18, IL-4 and IL-10 in Heart Transplantation Rejection in Rats / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

ABSTRACT

To investigate the effect of TGF-β1 on the expressions of IL-12, IL-15, IL-18, IL-4 and IL-10 in heart transplantation rejection in rats, a model of rat cervical heterotopic heart transplanta-tion was set up and the model rats were randomly divided into three groups control group, transplant group and TGF-β1 group. The mRNA expression levels of IL-12, IL-15, IL-18, IL-4 and IL-10 were determined by RT-PCR at the 5th day after the transplantation. The mRNA expression levels of IL-12,IL-15, IL-18 were increased obviously and those of IL-4, IL-10 were significantly decreased in the transplant group as compared with the control group (P<0.01). In the TGF-β1 group, the mRNA ex-pression levels of IL-12, IL-15, IL-18 were significantly decreased and those of IL-4, IL-10 were sig-nificantly increased as compared with the transplant group (P<0.01). The immunosuppressive effect of TGF-β1 on heart transplantation rejection was related to its inhibition of the expressions of Th1-type cytokines (IL-12, IL-15, IL-18 etc) and its promotion of the expressions of Th2-tpye cyto-kines (IL-4, IL-10).