Commentary and Review Series 1-99
T-cell function and disease development: Implications for future immunological studies involving A-bomb survivors (Report of the RERF Immunology Workshop, March 10-11, 1999, Hiroshima)
Kusunoki Y, Hayashi T, Hamatani K, Kyoizumi SSummary
An immunology workshop focusing on T-cell immunity in disease development in A-bomb survivors was held on 10 and 11 March 1999 at RERF. Based on the findings of previous immunological studies on A-bomb survivors, RERF immunologists proposed that previous exposure to radiation may have led to alterations in the balance between T-helper type 1 (Th1) and T-helper type 2 (Th2) cells in the survivors. Such long-lasting imbalances of T-cell function could eventually lead to an increased risk of succumbing to various diseases, including perhaps certain infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and cancers for which radiation effects have previously been demonstrated. Workshop members agreed that the overall hypothesis should be tested. They also recognized that RERF’s multidimensional research environment should make it possible to carry out a comprehensive investigation of the immunological mechanisms underlying disease development in A-bomb survivors. Tests of this hypothesis by RERF immunologists will include comparative measurements of cytokine levels in serum, as well as of surface markers for helper T-cell subsets, in the survivors. They also plan to study pathogens that may or may not be causally related to cardiovascular disease in A-bomb survivors and to study the balance of helper T-cell subsets in the same group of subjects. Furthermore, because molecular oncological studies on thyroid and liver cancers in the survivors have previously been conducted at the foundation, future studies on tumor immunity, especially to these cancers, are proposed as, indeed, are studies of the common molecular mechanisms underlying the development of thyroid cancer and autoimmune thyroiditis. These studies, in conjunction with the appropriate longitudinal clinical and epidemiological follow-ups, may help us to determine whether radiation-induced alterations of the immune system are likely to play an important part in disease development among the A-bomb survivors, and if so, in what ways any such alteration is likely to be involved.
An immunology workshop focusing on T-cell immunity in disease development in A-bomb survivors was held on 10 and 11 March 1999 at RERF. Based on the findings of previous immunological studies on A-bomb survivors, RERF immunologists proposed that previous exposure to radiation may have led to alterations in the balance between T-helper type 1 (Th1) and T-helper type 2 (Th2) cells in the survivors. Such long-lasting imbalances of T-cell function could eventually lead to an increased risk of succumbing to various diseases, including perhaps certain infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and cancers for which radiation effects have previously been demonstrated. Workshop members agreed that the overall hypothesis should be tested. They also recognized that RERF’s multidimensional research environment should make it possible to carry out a comprehensive investigation of the immunological mechanisms underlying disease development in A-bomb survivors. Tests of this hypothesis by RERF immunologists will include comparative measurements of cytokine levels in serum, as well as of surface markers for helper T-cell subsets, in the survivors. They also plan to study pathogens that may or may not be causally related to cardiovascular disease in A-bomb survivors and to study the balance of helper T-cell subsets in the same group of subjects. Furthermore, because molecular oncological studies on thyroid and liver cancers in the survivors have previously been conducted at the foundation, future studies on tumor immunity, especially to these cancers, are proposed as, indeed, are studies of the common molecular mechanisms underlying the development of thyroid cancer and autoimmune thyroiditis. These studies, in conjunction with the appropriate longitudinal clinical and epidemiological follow-ups, may help us to determine whether radiation-induced alterations of the immune system are likely to play an important part in disease development among the A-bomb survivors, and if so, in what ways any such alteration is likely to be involved.