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. 1995 Jan;99(1):65–69. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1995.tb03473.x

A role for IL-4 in immunologically mediated enteropathy.

A M Mowat 1, M B Widmer 1
PMCID: PMC1534147  PMID: 7813111

Abstract

A number of clinical enteropathies are associated with a local cell-mediated immune (CMI) response, and experimental evidence indicates that cytokines are responsible for the intestinal pathology. We show here that depletion of IL-4 using MoAb or a soluble form of the IL-4 receptor (IL-4R) prevents the jejunal manifestations of a proliferative form of murine graft-versus-host reaction (GVHR) characterized by crypt hyperplasia and recruitment of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL). Depletion of IL-4 did not prevent the appearance of villus atrophy in a destructive model of GVHR, and had no effect on any indices of systemic immunity. These results indicate that IL-4 may play a selective role in mediating proliferative aspects of intestinal immunopathology, and suggest that this cytokine may provide a useful target for immunotherapy.

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Selected References

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