Gold Appears to Be a Selective Immunostimulator

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Gold Appears to Be a Selective Immunostimulator

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The beneficial effects of parenteral gold

therapy in some cases of rheumatoid arthritis may be due to its

stimulation of production of certain cytokines, rather than to general

immunosuppressive activity.

The observation that side effects such as eosinophilia and increased IgE

can occur prior to the beneficial effects of gold treatment, prompted

Dr. Jon Lampa and colleagues, from the Karolinska Institute in

Stockholm, to study the activity of gold in vitro. Their findings are

published in the January issue of The Journal of Rheumatology.

The researchers analyzed cytokine production in blood samples from 10

healthy donors and from 10 patients with polyarthritis after incubation

with various concentrations of gold salt.

Gold produced a dose-dependent increase in the number of cells that

produced interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10, the authors report. When

monocytes were depleted first, the increase in IL-10 production was

inhibited.

Gold did not have an effect on cells producing interferon-gamma or tumor

necrosis factor-alpha. However, gold did produce a dose dependent

decrease in interferon-gamma levels after mitogen stimulation.

" To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that gold has diverse

effects on the production of pro- and antiinflammatory cytokines, " the

investigators note. " The differential effects...on cytokine production,

with a marked stimulatory effect on IL-10 and IL-6, indicate that

parenteral gold may act on inflammatory diseases as a relative selective

immunostimulator rather than as a general immunosuppressant. "

J Rheumatol 2002;29:21-28.