We demonstrate herein that the accelerated development of lupus-like autoimmune disease in MRL-lpr/lpr and MRL.Yaa mice, as compared with MRL-lpr/lpr.ll and MRL-+/+ mice, respectively, was correlated with an enhanced expression of IFN-gamma vs IL-4 and IL-10 mRNA in CD4+ T cells, which paralleled with an increase of spontaneous and foreign T cell-dependent antigen-induced productions of IgG2a and IgG3 vs IgG1 antibodies.
Our finding of IL-4, but not IFN gamma, mRNA expression in orbital tissue supports a role, at least in some patients, for humoral autoimmunity in Graves' ophthalmopathy.
Deregulation of the expression of these interleukins was shown to be responsible for various diseases, such as i) IL-4 vs. immediate type hypersensitivity and ii) IL-6 vs. autoimmunity and multiple myelomas.