       Document 0670
 DOCN  M9550670
 TI    Low serum levels of dehydroepiandrosterone may cause deficient IL-2
       production by lymphocytes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus
       (SLE).
 DT    9505
 AU    Suzuki T; Suzuki N; Engleman EG; Mizushima Y; Sakane T; Department of
       Immunology, St. Marianna University School of; Medicine, Kanagawa,
       Japan.
 SO    Clin Exp Immunol. 1995 Feb;99(2):251-5. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
       MED/95153910
 AB    The principal cause of IL-2 deficiency, a common feature of both murine
       lupus and human SLE, remains obscure. Recent studies of our own as well
       as others have shown that dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), an intermediate
       compound in testosterone synthesis, significantly up-regulates IL-2
       production of T cells, and that administration of exogenous DHEA or IL-2
       via a vaccinia construct to murine lupus dramatically reverses their
       clinical autoimmune diseases. Thus, we have examined serum levels of
       DHEA in patients with SLE to test whether abnormal DHEA activity is
       associated with IL-2 deficiency of the patients. We found that nearly
       all of the patients examined have very low levels of serum DHEA. The
       decreased DHEA levels were not simply a reflection of a long term
       corticosteroid treatment which may cause adrenal atrophy, since serum
       samples drawn at the onset of disease, which are devoid of
       corticosteroid treatment, also contained low levels of DHEA. In
       addition, exogenous DHEA restored impaired IL-2 production of T cells
       from patients with SLE in vitro. These results indicate that defects of
       IL-2 synthesis of patients with SLE are at least in part due to the low
       DHEA activity in the serum.
 DE    Adult  CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes/IMMUNOLOGY  CD8-Positive
       T-Lymphocytes/IMMUNOLOGY  Female  Human  Interleukin-2/*BIOSYNTHESIS
       Interleukin-4/BIOSYNTHESIS  Interleukin-6/BIOSYNTHESIS  Lupus
       Erythematosus, Systemic/*IMMUNOLOGY  Prasterone/*BLOOD/*DEFICIENCY
       Support, Non-U.S. Gov't  T-Lymphocyte Subsets/*IMMUNOLOGY  JOURNAL
       ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

