Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 165, Number 7, April 2002, 1005-1009

Expression of ST2 in Helper T Lymphocytes of Malignant Pleural Effusions

Katsuhisa Oshikawa, Ken Yanagisawa, Shoji Ohno, Shin-Ichi Tominaga, and Yukihiko Sugiyama

Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Medicine, and Department of Biochemistry, Jichi Medical School, Minamikawachi, Tochigi, Japan

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that accumulated helper T lymphocytes in malignant pleural effusions may shift to T-helper type 2 (Th2) and produce soluble ST2 protein. We took samples of serum and pleural effusions (p-) from patients with carcinomatous pleurisy (CA, n = 17), tuberculous pleurisy (TB, n = 8), and congestive heart failure (HF, n = 5) and compared the concentration of cytokines or ST2. Ex vivo production of interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-10, though not that of interferon (IFN)- or IL-12, from CD4⁺ T cells isolated from pleural effusions was higher in the CA group than in the TB or HF group. The p-ST2 concentrations were significantly higher in the CA group than in the TB or HF group, positively correlated with the percentage of pleural effusion CD4⁺ T cells (r = 0.432, p = 0.016) and inversely correlated with p-IFN- concentrations (r = 0.423, p = 0.019). Furthermore, mRNA expression of ST2 in CD4⁺ T cells isolated from group CA was upregulated, compared with that in those isolated from the TB group. These results suggest that CD4⁺ T cells in CA shift to Th2, which can produce soluble ST2 protein, resulting in increased concentrations of p-ST2 in malignant pleural effusion.

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