CYTOKINE PROFILE IN CELIAC DISEASE: A LASER CAPTURE MICRODISSECTION APPROACH

Background: Different approaches have been used to study the pattern of cytokines in celiac disease (CD), which have led sometimes to contradictory results. Laser capture microdissection (LCM) is a powerful tool for the isolation of specific cell populations from stained sections. Aim: Characterize the pattern of cytokines within the tissue compartments of the small intestinal mucosa of CD patients, dissected by LCM. Methods: Frozen sections of jejunal biopsies were obtained from 7 untreated CD patients. Epithelium and lamina propria were isolated separately by LCM, and the mRNA levels for IFN-{gamma}, IL-21, IL-15, IL-10 and TGF-?, were determined by using real-time PCR. Results: We observed a higher expression of IFN-{gamma} and IL-21 mRNA in the lamina propria than in the epithelium and a higher expression of IL-15 mRNA in the epithelium than in the lamina propria. Same levels of IL-10 and TGF-? transcripts were detected in both the compartments of untreated celiac mucosa. Conclusion: Our data suggest that the epithelium produce cytokines involved in the innate immunity while lamina propria cells produce cytokines involved in the adaptive immune response. Both epithelial and lamina propria compartments produce immunosuppressive cytokines. This work underlines the importance of LCM as a valuable tool to determine inflammatory components in specific intestinal compartments enhancing understanding of CD pathogenesis.