Levels of inflammatory cytokines from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of children with cow's milk protein allergy

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the level of cytokines in cultures of cow's milk protein-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with cow's milk protein allergy. Material and Methods: Eleven children with cow's milk protein allergy and 11 non-allergic controls were studied. Their peripheral blood mononuclear cells were cultured alone and in the presence of cow's milk alpha-lactalbumin; beta-lactoglobulin; alpha S 1, alpha S 2, beta, and kappa-casein fraction mixtures; and a cow's protein mixture from whole milk. Production of cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-10, and interleukin-12 were determined in culture supernatants. Results: In cow's milk protein-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures of children with cow's milk protein allergy, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-10, and interleukin-12 production was significantly higher than in non-allergic controls (p<0.05). No difference in cytokine production was found between cultures obtained from unstimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures of both cow's milk protein allergy and non-allergic controls. Conclusions: The findings of this preliminary study align with data from the literature suggesting that the investigation of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-10, and interleukin-12 in cow's milk protein-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures of children may be taken in further consideration to explore whether they might have a predictive role for cow's milk protein allergy. Further studies are therefore needed to extensively investigate this issue.