The role of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in human sulfur mustard (HD) toxicology.

The authors applied in vitro models of controlled damage to human epidermal keratinocytes (HEKs), human skin fibroblasts (HSFs), and human breast skin tissue (HBST) to examine the mechanism responsible for sulfur mustard (HD)-induced interleukin-6 (IL-6) alterations. Treatment with 100 μM HD for 24 hours resulted in a significant increased amount of IL-6 being secreted by HEKs (HD-exposed to control ratio [E/C] = 4.15 ± 0.07) and by HSFs (E/C = 7.66 ± 0.04). Furthermore, the HD-induced secretion of IL-6 in HEKs was neutralized with monoclonal human IL-6 antibodies. The secretion of IL-6 in HBST supernatant exposed to HD produced conflicting results. Although an increase of IL-6 was observed in control superfusion media from HBST, IL-6 levels were observed to decrease as the concentration of HD increased. Time course of IL-6 mRNA levels were performed using a competitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and human IL-6 mRNA assay detection kit in control and HD (100 μM)-treated HEKs cells. IL-6 mRNA transcri...