In vivo induction of interleukin-1 during hemodialysis.

In vivo induction of interleukin-1 (IL-1) production during hemodialysis was investigated by measuring IL-1 activity in monocyte lysates from 59 patients undergoing long-term maintenance hemodialysis with complement activating and non-complement activating devices. In patients dialyzed with new hollow-fiber cuprophane dialyzers, predialytic (T0) monocyte-associated IL-1 activity was 12.5 +/- 3.0 U/ml (mean +/- SEM), a value that was higher than that found in normal individuals (2.85 +/- 0.85 U/ml; P less than 0.0025) and in non-dialyzed patients with chronic renal failure (0.95 +/- 0.85 U/ml, P less than 0.0001). Cell-associated IL-1 activity was consistently increased after five hours of dialysis with cuprophane membranes (42.4 +/- 5.5 U/ml, P less than 0.0005). Systemic complement activation was demonstrated by the finding of increased plasma levels of C3adesArg antigen during dialysis. In patients dialyzed with high permeability polyacrylonitrile and polysulfone membranes, no intradialytic change in cell-associated IL-1 and no complement activation occurred. However, the mean predialytic values of monocyte-associated IL-1 in these patients (that is, 32.9 +/- 5.6 U/ml and 38 +/- 5.65 U/ml for the polyacrylonitrile and the polysulfone groups, respectively) were higher than the predialytic levels of cell-associated IL-1 in the patients from the cuprophane group (P less than 0.0025). Monocytes obtained at the beginning and five hours of dialysis from patients dialyzed with polyacrylonitrile devices, and monocytes obtained at five hours but not at the beginning of dialysis from patients dialyzed with cuprophane membranes, spontaneously released extracellular IL-1 after 24 hours of culture in serum free conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)