Elevated gene expression and production of interleukins 2, 4, 5, and 6 during exposure to vomitoxin (deoxynivalenol) and cycloheximide in the EL-4 thymoma.

Aberrant elevation of serum IgA and induction of murine IgA nephropathy following dietary exposure to the naturally occurring trichothecene vomitoxin (VT or deoxynivalenol) may involve dysregulation of cytokine production at the T cell level. EL4.IL-2 (EL-4), a cloned thymoma that produces interleukins (IL)-2, 4, 5, and 6, was used as a T cell model to investigate the in vitro effects of VT on interleukin production and gene expression. When supernatants of cells stimulated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, IL-2, 4, and 5 were increased in the presence of 50 and/or 100 ng/ml VT for 2 and/or 8 days of culture. IL-2, 5, and 6 were also significantly elevated in the presence of 10-100 ng/ml of cycloheximide (CHX), another protein synthesis inhibitor, after 8 days of culture. As demonstrated by Northern analysis, VT at the levels between 50 and 100 ng/ml superinduced IL-2, 4, 5, and 6 mRNAs in PMA-stimulated EL-4 cells during a 24 hr culture period. Similar effects in PMA-treated samples were observed for CHX at 50, 100, 250, 1000, and 10000 ng/ml. mRNA levels for both IL-4 and IL-5, but not IL-2 and IL-6, were increased in unstimulated EL-4 cultures exposed to 50 and 100 ng/ml VT for 48 hr when analyzed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Using [3H]leucine incorporation as a measurement of protein synthesis, IC50s for VT and CHX were estimated to be 280 and 55 ng/ml, respectively. This study indicates that VT as well as CHX could increase production of several interleukins in the EL-4 model even when present at concentrations that partially inhibited protein synthesis, whereas IL mRNA superinduction occurred across a broader range of concentrations that included maximal protein synthesis inhibition.