Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)‐α is known to play a major role in the formation of noncaseating granuloma, a hallmark of sarcoidosis. The main cellular source in situ is still ambiguous.

Serial sections of transbronchial biopsies from 14 patients with and 12 without sarcoidosis were studied, using immunohistochemistry (IHC), for TNF‐α, T‐cells (CD3), macrophages (CD68), and epithelial cells (MNF116). TNF‐α spontaneously released (sr-TNF‐α) by freshly isolated bronchoalveolar lavage cells, isolated from the same patients and cultured without any stimulus over a 24‐h period was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

IHC revealed colocalisation of TNF‐α with CD68 cells only. Cases with TNF‐α tissue immunoreactivity exhibited higher sr-TNF‐α (1,667±504 pg·mL⁻¹) than cases without tissue immunoreactivity (211±60 pg·mL⁻¹). In an explorative approach, a subgroup of patients could be identified and characterised by the presence of alveolar macrophage aggregates. It was found that sr-TNF‐α was highest in this subgroup (2,700±769 pg·mL⁻¹) compared with patients with normal histology (221±61 pg·mL⁻¹) or with prominent granuloma (460±137 pg·mL⁻¹), whereas in most clinical parameters this subgroup was intermediate.

The findings from this study strongly corroborate the view that alveolar macrophages are the main cellular source for tumour necrosis factor‐α in the initial phase of sarcoidosis. The authors suggest that in these patients, aggregates of alveolar macrophages may represent at least predecessors to granulomas if not granulomas in statu nascendi.