Contribution of Ductal Cells to Cytokine Responses by Human Pancreatic Islets

摘要

In type 1 diabetes, autoimmune destruction of pancre- atic β-cells has been attributed to cytokines released from infiltrating immunocytes. Xposure of isolated islets to cytokines leads to nitric oxide (NO) produc- tion, which can damage β-cells. Because ductal cells are closely associated with human β-cells, we exam- ined whether they can contribute to this process. Iso- lated human ductal cells were cultured for 48 h with var- ious cytokines. The combination of interleukin-1β (IL- 1β) plus interferon-γ (IFN-γ) increased nitric oxide production 12-fold while stimulating mRNA expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS).