Presence of interleukin-10 transcripts in human pituitary and hypothalamus

1. Recent data have shown that interleukin-10 (IL-10) is expressed and acts in mouse pituitary tumor cells and freshly isolated mouse pituitaries. 2. In this study, we show that poly(A⁺ RNA derived from normal human pituitary and hypothalamus expresses IL-10 message. 3. The majority of transcripts was likely from the pituitary and hypothalamus, and not from lymphocytes in the pituitary and hypothalamic vasculature, since both IL-10 and interferon-γ mRNA levels, compared to equivalent amounts of RNA from peripheral blood lymphocytes, were much lower. 4. These results indicate that IL-10 may function in human neuroendocrine processes as it does in the murine system, thus serving as an important signal molecule for bidirectional communication between the neuroendocrine and the immune systems.