E Sorkin's research while affiliated with Swiss Institute for Art Research and other places

Tumor rechallenge following primary tumor excision elicits systemic anti-inflammation that occurs rapidly, affects granulocytes as well as macrophages and is more severe, longer in duration, and induced by fewer tumor cells than the macrophage specific anti-inflammatory effect sometimes seen after primary tumor challenge. Factors important in the pathogenesis of this abnormality are the following. First, primary tumor excision was required as defects did not occur when a second tumor was transplanted during primary tumor growth. Second, the abnormality was restricted to neoplastic cells since normal cells were unable to substitute for either primary or secondary tumor challenge. Third, the anti-inflammatory effect was not due to surgical trauma or local irritation. Fourth, defective inflammation occurred in syngeneic but not allogeneic rats, suggesting an immunological basis for the anti-inflammation. Fifth, elevated glucocorticoids, such as might be expected from an immunological reaction or release of IL-1, may be a contributing but not sole cause for the phenomenon.

We investigated whether the development of sympathetic innervation of the spleen is affected by lymphoid cells. Splenic noradrenaline (NA) levels of athymic nude mice (nu/nu) and normal thymus-bearing littermates (nu/+) were determined at different times during ontogeny. While no differences were detected at birth, higher splenic NA levels were found in 7-, 11-, and 21-day-old athymic mice. Thymus transplantation or thymocyte injection to newborn nude mice resulted in splenic NA levels comparable to those of normal nu/+ mice. Histochemical studies fully confirmed such differences. Taken together with previous studies, these results suggest that T lymphocytes or their products exert an inhibitory influence on sympathetic nerve fibers, thus leading to decreased NA content in the spleen. The data also illustrate the capacity of a nonneuronal cell in a peripheral organ to affect the process of autonomic innervation of this organ.

The production and action of immunoregulatory cytokines, including interleukin-1 (IL-1), are inhibited by glucocorticoid hormones in vivo and in vitro. Conversely, glucocorticoid blood levels were increased by factors released by human leukocytes exposed to Newcastle disease virus preparations. This activity was neutralized by an antibody to IL-1. Therefore the capacity of IL-1 to stimulate the pituitary-adrenal axis was tested. Administration of subpyrogenic doses of homogeneous human monocyte-derived IL-1 or the pI 7 form of human recombinant IL-1 to mice and rats increased blood levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and glucocorticoids. Another monokine, tumor necrosis factor, and the lymphokines IL-2 and gamma-interferon had no such effects when administered in doses equivalent to or higher than those of IL-1. The stimulatory effect of IL-1 on the pituitary-adrenal axis seemed not to be mediated by the secondary release of products from mature T lymphocytes since IL-1 was endocrinologically active when injected into athymic nude mice. These results strongly support the existence of an immunoregulatory feedback circuit in which IL-1 acts as an afferent and glucocorticoid as an efferent hormonal signal.

Concepts and facts concerning immune-neuroendocrine interactions are discussed. The immune response elicits endocrine, autonomic, and brain functional changes. These changes can be mediated by soluble factors released by activated immunologic cells. As a result of these immune-neuroendocrine interactions the content of powerful agents such as hormones, neurotransmitters, and neuropeptides in the microenvironment of immunologic cells is modified. This leads to external immunoregulatory signals imposed upon autoregulatory mechanisms.

Anergy associated with cancer or major surgery may derive from the systemic antileukocyte effect induced by local inflammatory reactions (counter-irritation). Since the mechanism of the latter phenomenon is unknown, we approached the problem by asking if tolerance develops to repeated local irritant injections. Our results demonstrate that both tolerance and cross-desensitization occur rapidly to inflammatory agents (inflammagens) such as proteose peptone, thioglycollate, and carrageenan but not to the mitogens Con A, PHA-P, or LPS which also induce local inflammation. We interpret this data as supporting the notion that a common mechanism underlies the counter-irritant action of inflammagens but that injection of mitogens induces an additional mechanism of anti-inflammation distinguished from the former by its lack of tolerance induction. Based upon cross-desensitization experiments, we show that the anti-inflammatory effect of surgical amputation is analogous to that induced by inflammagens. In contrast, the systemic anti-inflammatory effect of tumor bearing, like that induced by mitogens, resists cross-desensitization suggesting that its mediation is not caused solely by the mechanism common to the counter-irritant action of inflammagens or major surgery.

Products are released in vitro by mitogen stimulation of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells or rat spleen cells which increase corticosterone blood levels when injected into normal rats. We report that an almost pure population of human peripheral blood lymphocytes in mixed lymphocyte culture stimulated with phytohaemagglutinin also produces a glucocorticoid increasing factor(s). The product equivalent to the amount released by 5 X 10(5) cells increased corticosterone levels four-fold and also increased ACTH levels. When rats were hypophysectomized or treated with dexamethasone to block ACTH output, no corticosterone increase was noted following administration of glucocorticoid increasing factor(s) (GIF). Similar results were obtained with supernatants of rat spleen cells stimulated with concanavalin A. We conclude that GIF has no direct action on the adrenals in vivo and that a functional pituitary gland is essential for its action. The presented data taken together with those described earlier suggest the existence of a glucocorticoid associated immunoregulatory feedback circuit.

Inflammation in progress at one site decreases edema formation at a second and separate inflammatory focus. This clinically important phenomenon is known as counter-irritation. Since its effect on leukocyte responses has not been defined, we investigated in rats the systemic anti-inflammatory effect of local irritant injection on cellular emigration, particularly monocytes. Macrophage accumulation at a subcutaneous inflammatory site was severely depressed by prior intraperitoneal irritant injection despite continued macrophage accumulation in the peritoneal cavity and normal circulating monocyte levels. The phenomenon also existed in the peritoneal cavity to subcutaneously administered irritants and involved PMNs as readily as macrophages. Anti-inflammation occurred only when the counter-irritant was injected before or simultaneously with the measured inflammatory response while the degree and duration of inhibition depended upon the nature and amount of counter-irritant injected. These studies demonstrate that local inflammation inhibits leukocyte reactivity. Transplantation of syngeneic tumor but not normal cells also produced a depression in macrophage inflammatory responses. This inhibition differed from counter-irritation by not affecting granulocytes and by being transient despite tumor persistence.