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Infection and Immunity, February 2001, p. 744-750, Vol. 69, No. 2
Department of Cytokine Biology, Forsyth
Institute,1 and Department of
Endodontics, Harvard School of Dental
Medicine,2 Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Received 28 August 2000/Returned for modification 10 October
2000/Accepted 2 November 2000
Periapical bone destruction occurs as a consequence of pulpal
infection. In previous studies, we showed that interleukin-1 (IL-1) is
the primary stimulator of bone destruction in this model. IL-6 is a
pleiotropic cytokine that is induced in these infections and has both
pro- and anti-inflammatory activities. In the present study, we
determined the role of IL-6 in regulating IL-1 expression and bone
resorption. The first molars of IL-6 knockouts (IL-6
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.2.744-750.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Interleukin-6 Deficiency Increases Inflammatory Bone Destruction
/
)
and wild-type mice were subjected to surgical pulp exposure and
infection with a mixture of four common pulpal pathogens, including
Prevotella intermedia, Fusobacterium nucleatum,
Peptostreptococcus micros, and Streptococcus
intermedius. Mice were killed after 21 days, and bone destruction
and cytokine expression were determined. Surprisingly, bone destruction
was significantly increased in IL-6
/
mice versus that
in wild-type mice (by 30%; P < 0.001). In a second
experiment, the effects of chronic (IL-6
/
) IL-6
deficiency and short-term IL-6 deficiency induced by in vivo antibody
neutralization were determined. Both IL-6
/
(30%;
P < 0.001) and anti-IL-6 antibody-treated mice (40%;
P < 0.05) exhibited increased periapical bone
resorption, compared to wild-type controls. The increased bone
resorption in IL-6-deficient animals correlated with increases in
osteoclast numbers, as well as with elevated expression of
bone-resorptive cytokines IL-1
and IL-1
, in periapical lesions
and with decreased expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10.
These data demonstrate that endogenous IL-6 expression has significant
anti-inflammatory effects in modulating infection-stimulated bone
destruction in vivo.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Cytokine Biology, Forsyth Institute, 140 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115. Phone: (617) 262-5200. Fax: (617) 262-4021. E-mail:
pstashenko{at}forsyth.org.
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