Effect of cadmium on the expression levels of interleukin-1a and interleukin-10 cytokines in human lung cells

ODEWUMI, CAROLINE; LATINWO, LEKAN M.; SINCLAIR, ANDRE; BADISA, VEERA L.D.; ABDULLAH, AHKINYALA; BADISA, RAMESH B.

When the cytokine levels were compared in the normal lung cells, a higher expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine, IL-1α, was observed compared with the anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-10, at 6 h exposure (Fig. 2) . A high level of IL-1α cytokine in the cells exposed to xeno-biotics has been reported to inhibit the expression of metallothionein protein (33) . In that previous study, IL-1α inhibited the mRNA expression of metallothionein in endometrial stromal cells and amniotic cells treated with CdCl 2 . Based on the above report, the present study hypothesized that increased levels of IL-1α may reduce the protein expression of metallothionein, which in turn leads to the increase in unbound CdCl 2 in the cell, which may now damage biological molecules, including proteins, as shown by the decreased expression of IL-1α and IL-10 observed in the present study (Fig. 2) .