Interleukin-4 inhibits interleukin-1 alpha-induced granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor gene expression in a murine B-lymphocyte cell line via downregulation of RNA precursor.

Interleukin-4 (IL-4) regulates the growth of B cells. When combined with colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) and selected cytokines, IL-4 has a synergistic effect on the clonal growth of bone marrow cells. Recently, we have shown that IL-1 alpha and lipopolysaccharide induce expression of the granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF) gene in murine B-cell lines. In the present study, we show that IL-4 inhibits the production of GM-CSF in the IL-1 alpha-stimulated murine B-cell line M12.4.1. IL-4 did not change the transcription rate of the GM-CSF gene, and caused only a slight decrease in cytoplasmic GM-CSF messenger RNA (mRNA) half-life in cells treated with IL-1 alpha. PCR analysis of nuclear RNA with probes specific for GM-CSF intron sequences suggests that IL-1 alpha enhances accumulation of nuclear precursor RNA and that decreased GM-CSF expression after IL-4 treatment is mainly due to intranuclear destabilization of the primary transcript. Under the same experimental conditions, IL-4 did not affect expression of the IL-4 receptor mRNA and did increase the mRNA concentration of the low-affinity receptor for IgE (Fc epsilon RII). These data suggest that the suppressive effect of IL-4 is specific for GM-CSF mRNA expression, and thus provide evidence for an additional role of IL-4 in the regulation of GM-CSF expression in B cells.