J Neuroimmunol 2001 Jul 2;117(1-2):156-65
Makhlouf K, Comabella M, Imitola
J, Weiner HL, Khoury SJ
Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham
and Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, 77 Louis Pasteur Avenue,
02115, Boston, MA, USA
IL-12 is a key cytokine for Th1 cell
development and may be important in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis
(MS).
The beta(2)-agonist salbutamol is
known to decrease IL-12 production in monocytes of normal individuals through
increased intracellular cAMP.
In a prospective open-label study,
we investigated by flow cytometry the effect of a 2-week long oral salbutamol
treatment on monocyte IL-12 production in 21 secondary progressive MS patients.
Baseline IL-12 production was higher
in patients than in healthy controls.
The treatment induced a significant
decrease in the percentage of IL-12-producing monocytes and dendritic cells
that lasted up to 1 week after treatment interruption.
This first report on the use of salbutamol
in MS shows that this drug has immunomodulatory properties both in vivo
and in vitro, and may be beneficial in the treatment of MS.
PMID: 11431016, UI: 21324606