Cytokine production in Linomide-treated NOD mice and the potential role of a Th1/Th2 shift on autoimmune and anti-inflammatory processes

Linomide prevents the development of autoimmune insulitis; and insulin-deficient diabetes mellitus in female NOD mice. Linomide prevents development of autoimmune manifestations in other experimentally induced and spontaneous autoimmune diseases as well, but the mechanism of action is unknown. The present report summarizes our investigations on the effect of Linomide on different functional T cell subsets in NOD mice analyzed according to their cytokine profile. Supernatants from cultured splenocytes and peritoneal cells taken from Linomide-treated mice contained lower levels of TNFalpha, IL-1beta, IFNgamma and IL-12 versus higher levels of IL-4, IL-6 and IL-10 in comparison with supernatants from cultures of untreated mice. Our results suggest that regulation of autoimmunity following oral Linomide administration in NOD mice induces a shift from Th-1 to Th-2 phenotype response, thereby preventing the development of diabetes by active cytokine-induced immunoregulation of T cell subsets, including downregulation of Th-1 and upregulation of Th-2. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.