Interferon-γ Inducible Protein (IP-10) Expression Is Mediated by CD8+ T Cells and Is Regulated by CD4+ T Cells During the Elicitation of Contact Hypersensitivity

To investigate the potential roles of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells during contact hypersensitivity, we examined the T-cell-dependent expression of proinflammatory cytokine genes in the responses to dinitrofluorobenzene and oxazolone. Whole cell RNA was isolated from challenged ear tissue and analyzed for level of cytokine gene expression by Northern blot and densitometry analysis. Expression of interleukin 1β and the three chemokine genes (IP-10, JE, and KC) examined was dependent on the hapten dose used for sensitization and correlated with the immune response, i.e., ear swelling, elicited. Antibody-mediated depletion of CD8+ T cells before sensitization resulted in the absence of IP-10 expression following hapten challenge, indicating the ability of immune CD8+ T cells to mediate IP-10 expression. Depletion of CD4+ T cells resulted in higher levels of IP-10 and KC expression during elicitation of contact sensitivity, suggesting CD4+ T cells inhibit the expression of these proinflammatory genes. Depletion of CD4+ T cells resulted in contact hypersensitivity responses of higher magnitude and depletion of CD8+ T cells resulted in responses of lower magnitude. Transfer of CD8+ T-cell-depleted immune cells resulted in low, but detectable levels of IP-10 expression, indicating the ability of some oxazolone-immune CD4+ T cells to mediate IP-10 expression. These results indicate the differential induction of proinflammatory cytokine gene expression during elicitation of contact hypersensitivity in which expression of IP-10 is primarily mediated by immune CD8+ T cells and inhibited by immune CD4+ T cells

Effect of malnutrition on FDG PET

Objective 18F-FDG PET/CT is a hybrid imaging method widely used as a useful, noninvasive imaging modality for evaluating various neoplastic diseases. When assessing the tumor uptake, the liver and the mediastinal blood pool are often used as a reference region. In daily clinical practice, the 18F-FDG uptake in the liver sometimes appears to decrease on PET images of patients with malnutrition. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not the liver 18F-FDG uptake is decreased in patients with malnutrition. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 246 patients who underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT from January 2018 to June 2018 and whose blood serum albumin was measured within 1 month of PET/CT. We compared the liver uptake and mediastinal blood uptake of patients with low serum albumin level (< 4.0 g/dl) and hypoalbuminemia (< 3.5 g/dl) with those with a normal serum albumin level (≥ 4.0 g/dl). Correlations between the liver and mediastinal blood uptake and the serum albumin level were also calculated. Results The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean) of the liver in 117 patients with low serum albumin were 3.1 ± 0.5 and 2.3 ± 0.3, respectively, while they were 2.9 ± 0.4, 2.0 ± 0.3 in 29 patients with hypoalbuminemia; these values were all significantly lower than the respective ones (3.4 ± 0.5, 2.5 ± 0.4) in 129 patients with normal serum albumin (all p < 0.001). The SUVmean of the mediastinal blood uptake in patients with hypoalbuminemia and normal serum albumin were 1.6 ± 0.2 and 1.7 ± 0.3, respectively (p = 0.053). The serum albumin level demonstrated a significantly positive, moderate correlation with the liver SUVmean, showing a regression line of y = 0.31x + 1.1 (r = 0.41, p < 0.001). Conclusion The liver 18F-FDG uptake tended to decrease in patients with hypoalbuminemia. In the patients with malnutrition, the mediastinal blood pool may be more stable reference than the liver for evaluating the tumor activity because hypoalbuminemia is considered to less strongly influence the mediastinal blood pool than that in the liver