In article <5kvn1k$s8a at mserv1.dl.ac.uk>, milen at Sun.medun.acad.bg (milen) wrote:
> Dear ImmunoNetters,
> Could someone enlighten me on the following topic:
>> Is there any protein(s), cirulating in human serum that can be used
> for evaluation of the current "balance" between Th1 and Th2 populations.
>> It will also be of great help to have comments if question like this
> can be asked or it is meaningless.
I'm certainly no Guru, but you could ask this question by examining the
relative levels of the products of these cells in serum (Il-4/IL-5 vs
IFN-gamma).
Of course this *would* be fairly meaningless since:
a) it only provides a snapshot at one instant of relative levels which are
part of a very dynamic system
b) It would show you what's going on in the blood, but these factors are
very shortlived, and most of the action is tissue and location specific.
c) these levels would be the sum of multiple Th1 and Th2 reactions, some of
which might be highly Th1 dominated, some of which might be Th2 dominated.
You could get around this last problem by looking at cytokines stimulated
in cells by a specific agent that you are interested in, but already you
are starting to get away from the simple blood test, and it would be of
doubtful relevance if you sampled blood instead of the tissue of interest.
However, blood tests for relative cytokine levels have been used in
patients and where you have a severe reaction taking place,this is
reflected in the blood and can be seen to cahnge as the patient's condition
changes.
Cheers, Mark
