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*
Department of Microbiology, Molecular Genetics, and Immunology,
Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, and
Kansas Cancer Institute, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160
| Abstract |
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production in mouse peritoneal macrophages. In
contrast, LPS-dependent nitric oxide release was not affected by LBP.
LPS induces the phosphorylation of a number of proteins in a dose and
time-dependent manner, however, the pattern of LPS-induced
phosporylation was not reduced by either LBP or BPI under conditions
that result in selective TNF-
inhibition. Further, activation of the
transcription factor NF-
B in response to LPS was also not modified
by either LBP or BPI. Finally, no differences were detected in TNF-
or inducible nitric oxide synthase mRNA accumulations induced by LPS in
the presence or absence of either protein, whereas a slight decreased
mRNA stability was observed in the group with LPS treatment. These
results would suggest that many of the early signaling events
contribute to LPS-induced macrophage signaling at a point preceding the
divergence of pathways that differentially regulate TNF-
and NO
production. | Introduction |
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During the past decade, several laboratories have investigated the
cellular events leading to the production of the mediators involved in
endotoxic shock, including the identification of LPS receptors on
target cells and the signal transduction pathways that result in gene
activation and cytokine production. It has been reported that LPS, by
exerting most of its biologic effect through the lipid A moiety,
activates several signal transduction pathways in macrophages (5, 6),
but the mechanisms of the signaling cascades of stimulation are still
not totally understood. Strong evidence supports the concept that LPS
activation of human monocytes involves both the LPS-binding protein
(LBP)6 and CD14. The 60-kDa
serum acute phase glycoprotein, LBP, binds to the lipid A with high
affinity and appears to catalytically deliver LPS to the 55-kDa
membrane glycoprotein CD14 (mCD14) (7, 8). Since this
glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored molecule is not a transmembrane
protein, additional, as yet unidentified transducer proteins have been
proposed to initiate the intracellular signals. Further, whereas LPS
activation in monocytes/macrophages has been shown to be a
CD14-dependent event, some data have shown that it can also occur
independently of CD14 (9, 10, 11). In fact, the response to LPS by various
cell types lacking mCD14, such as B lymphocytes (12), 
T
lymphocytes (13), and fibroblasts (14), could be explained by
either utilization of serum-soluble CD14 or CD14-independent pathways
(15). Studies in our laboratory have identified an as yet to be
characterized 73-kDa protein that may serve as an alternative LPS
receptor on mouse macrophages (16).
There is solid evidence showing a key role for protein phosphorylation
in the early intracellular signaling pathways initiated by LPS. It has
been suggested that protein tyrosine kinases (PTK), including
nonreceptor p53/56lyn,
p56/59hck, p58c-frg (17),
p38 (18), and the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family (19),
are involved at different levels. In addition, inhibitors of tyrosine
kinases have been shown to attenuate LPS-induced cytokine production by
mouse macrophages (20), and the targeting of PTK has recently been
pursued as a potential therapeutic approach against septic shock (21).
At a different level in the LPS-initiated activation cascade, cytokine
expression has been reported to depend on the activation/translocation
of the transcription factor NF-
B. The members of the Rel family, p50
and p65 of NF-
B, form heterodimer complexes capable of binding to
B consensus motifs in the promoter/enhancer regions of codifying
genes (6). Recent reports have indicated that kB motifs flanking the
TNF-
gene are essential for transactivation in LPS-stimulated
macrophages (22), and expression of the inducible nitrite oxide
synthase (iNOS) gene might also be regulated by
NF-
B/Rel (23). The precise contribution of these mechanisms in the
ultimate activation cascade induced by LPS, however, is still not clear
and may depend on the experimental model.
We have recently studied potential pathways for LPS activation by
evaluating the effect of purified LBP on LPS activation events (24).
Our data demonstrate that human LBP enhanced LPS-induced human monocyte
TNF-
and IL-6 production, but suppressed the equivalent cytokine
response in mouse macrophages in a dose-dependent way. Interestingly,
LBP showed no inhibitory effect on LPS-induced nitric oxide (NO)
secretion by the same macrophages. The
bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI) secreted by
polymorphonuclear leukocytes, which presents high homology with LBP
(25, 26) but antagonistic effects in human monocytes (27), inhibited
both LPS-induced TNF-
and NO secretion by mouse macrophages.
Therefore, LBP manifested opposite effects on LPS-induced activation of
human monocytes and mouse macrophages, whereas BPI showed inhibitory
effects in both cell types. The ability of LBP to modify LPS effects in
vitro would thus depend upon both the cell type under study and, within
a single-cell population, upon the particular response being measured.
The fact that LPS can be selectively influenced by both LBP and
BPI suggests the existence of at least two different activation
pathways in macrophages.
The purpose of our studies has been, therefore, to investigate the
relative contribution of several biochemical signaling events
implicated in the LPS-initiated cascade of activation that might
explain the dichotomy observed between mouse and human cells. In mouse
peritoneal macrophages, our data did not support an action of LBP in
modifying LPS-induced PTK activation, nuclear transcription factors
translocation to the nucleus, or synthesis of new mRNA for TNF-
or
iNOS, under conditions that nevertheless resulted in significant
reductions in TNF-
and IL-6 production. The results suggest that,
upon stimulation with LPS, mouse macrophages initiate a cascade of
events that lead to the synthesis of mRNA for proinflammatory
mediators, independently of the presence of LBP. The fact that the
secretion of the final products TNF-
or NO are differentially
regulated by LBP, therefore suggests that a downstream control point(s)
subsequent to mRNA synthesis provides an important negative feedback
mechanism that would then contribute to the dichotomy in response to
LBP-LPS in mouse peritoneal macrophages.
| Materials and Methods |
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Female C3HeB/FeJ, 6- to 10-wk-old mice were obtained from The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME), housed in laminar flow isolation units in the Kansas University Medical Center vivarium under alternate dark-light cycles, and fed ad libitum with pellet chow and acidified tap water.
Reagents
Rough-type LPS from Salmonella minnesota or smooth-type LPS from Escherichia coli 0111:B4 were purchased from List Biological Laboratories (Campbell, CA). Immediately before use, the LPS stock solution (1 mg/ml in pyrogen-free sterile distilled H2O) was sonicated for 3 min (W385; Heat-System Ultrasonic, Farmingdale, NY) and appropriately diluted in culture medium. Human recombinant LBP and BPI (generously provided by Incyte Pharmaceuticals, Palo Alto, CA), were diluted from stock solutions (1 mg/ml at -70°C) immediately before use.
Macrophage isolation and culture conditions
Exudate macrophages were obtained by peritoneal lavage 5 days after i.p. injection of 1.5 ml 4% Brewer thioglycollate (Difco Laboratories, Detroit, MI). Cells in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with penicillin and streptomycin (JRH Biosciences, Lenexa, KS) were seeded at 2 x 106 cells/well into six-well culture plates (Costar, Cambridge, MA) and 4 x 106 or 6 x 106 cells into 6-mm culture dishes (for nuclear factors or mRNA stability studies, respectively). After incubation at 37°C and 5% CO2 for 2 to 3 h (or overnight in some experiments to minimize background levels), nonadherent cells were removed by washing twice with the same medium, and the remaining adherent cells stimulated with the indicated concentrations of LPS in the presence or absence of LBP or BPI, then further incubated at 37°C in 5% CO2 for different amounts of time.
TNF-
, IL-6, and NO production determination
For production of TNF-
, IL-6, and NO, culture supernatants
were collected after 18 h of stimulation (24, 28). The amounts of
TNF-
were quantified by assessing the extent of killing of the
murine fibroblast cell line L929. IL-6 amounts were determined by ELISA
utilizing rat mAb anti-mouse IL-6 (PharMingen, San Diego, CA)
following the providers instructions. The amounts of either TNF-
and IL-6 were calculated by comparison with a recombinant
cytokine (Genzyme, Cambridge, MA) standard curve run in each
plate. Absorbance were measured using a Dynatech MR5000 microplate
reader (Chantilly, VA). NO production in culture supernatants was
assessed by measuring the amount the metabolic product nitrite by the
Griess reaction.
Detection of TNF-
and iNOS gene transcripts
TNF-
and NO mRNAs were evaluated after 2 and 6 h of
stimulation. Cells were lysed with 1 ml/well of Trizol (Life
Technologies), and total RNA was extracted according to the
manufacturers instructions. Reverse transcription and 25 cycles of
PCR (RT-PCR) were conducted using the GeneAmp RNA PCR kit and the
GeneAmp 9600 Thermal Controller apparatus (Perkin-Elmer, Foster City,
CA). Mouse TNF-
, IL-6, ß-actin (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA), and
iNOS (Clontech Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA) primers were used as
specified by the vendors. The PCR products were electrophoresed on a
1.6% agarose gel and stained with 0.5 mg/ml ethidium bromide. Images
were analyzed with a CCD Interactive Tech Videocamera
(Philips, The Netherlands) and ITTI 1.31 software (Interactive
Technologies International, St. Petersburg, FL) (28).
Analysis of TNF-
mRNA stability
After 2 h of stimulation, new transcription was inhibited
by treatment with 5 µg/ml of actinomycin D (Merck, West Point, PA),
and mRNA stability was evaluated by Northern blotting performed as
described (29). Ten micrograms of total RNA were electrophoresed in a
1% agarose, 2.2% formaldehyde gel and further transferred to a nylon
membrane using a Turboblotter (Schleicher and Schuell, Keene, NH).
The membranes were UV cross-linked and hybridized with a mouse TNF-
cDNA probe using the QuikHyb hybridization solution protocol
(Stratagene). The probe (prepared from a cDNA clone kindly given by Dr.
Christine Martens, DNAX, Palo Alto, CA) was radiolabeled with
[32P]dCTP (ICN Pharmaceutical, Costa Mesa, CA) using a
Multiprime DNA labeling system (Amersham, Arlington Heights, IL). After
blotting overnight exposure of the blot to autoradiography at -70°C,
images were processed and analyzed with the ITTI 1.3 software.
PAGE and phosphotyrosine immunoblotting
PTK activity was evaluated at increasing times of incubation. Cells were lysed by sonication (3x, 1 min) at 70 W and boiled for 5 min in SDS reducing sample. Total soluble proteins were electrophoresed in 10% SDS-polyacrylamide gel and further blotted onto nitrocellulose membrane (Schleicher and Schuell) using MiniPROTEAN II electrophoresis and Mini trans-blot electrophoretic transfer cell (Bio-Rad, Richmond, CA). Phosphorylated tyrosines were detected with rat anti-phosphotyrosine mAb 4G10 (Upstate Biotechnology, Lake Placid, NY). The bands were detected using the enhanced chemiluminescence system (ECL; Amersham) protocol. Developed film were subjected to densitometric analysis as described above (30, 31).
Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) and supershift assay
For transcription factor experiments, cells were
stimulated for 1 h. The NF-
B-specific oligonucleotide,
synthesized in the Biotechnology Support Facility at the University of
Kansas Medical Center, was end-labeled using [
32P]ATP
(6000 Ci/mmol) and T4 polynucleotide kinase (Life Technologies).
For EMSA, nuclear extracts (1 µg) were incubated with
poly(dI-dC).poly(dI-dC) (Pharmacia LKB Biotechnology, Piscataway, NJ)
and the end-labeled DNA, and then the mixture (20 µl) was
preelectrophoresed and electrophoresed through a native 6%
polyacrylamide gel. To identify the components of the NF-
B complex,
nuclear proteins were incubated with polyclonal antisera against either
p50 or c-Rel subunits or rabbit anti-p65 subunit Ab, as well as
with control rabbit antiserum (generously provided by Dr. N. Rice,
National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD). These mixtures were then
subjected to EMSA as described above (32).
Statistical analysis
Data were expressed as means and were compared statistically by Students t test. Levels of significance were determined using the Epistat statistical package (T. Gustafson, Round Rock, TX) or Sigmaplot software (Jandel, San Rafael, CA) in a personal computer. A p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
| Results |
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The human serum protein LBP has been extensively reported to
mediate LPS activity by facilitating its binding to human monocytes
(8). Opposite effects have been demonstrated, however, when mouse
peritoneal exudate macrophages were evaluated for response to LPS under
otherwise identical conditions (24). Specifically, this protein has
been shown to inhibit the ability of LPS to stimulate TNF-
production in a dose-dependent manner, while having no inhibitory
detectable effects on the LPS-mediated production of NO. In the present
report, therefore, we have extended these investigations on the
participation of LBP and other serum proteins in the cascade of
activation by bacterial LPS in mouse macrophages.
We used several doses of rough-type LPS, which possesses higher
activating capacity than smooth LPS, in these studies; the amounts of
TNF-
and nitrite were assessed in culture supernatants of exudate
peritoneal macrophages stimulated for 18 h with increasing
concentrations of rough type LPS. As indicated by the data depicted in
Figure 1
, doses of 1 to 10 ng/ml of LPS
triggered TNF-
and NO production by elicited mouse peritoneal
macrophages. We therefore evaluated the effect of the LBP and
BPI on the macrophage activation induced by these doses of LPS.
Similar to what had been observed previously in this system, and in
contrast to what was reported for human cells, the addition of up to
100 ng/ml of human rLBP markedly inhibited TNF-
production by mouse
macrophages induced by up to 10 ng/ml of rough-type LPS (Fig. 1
a). Also confirming our previous results, the production of
NO induced by LPS was not significantly modified by the presence of
this concentration of LBP (Fig. 1
b). We have previously
reported that BPI, despite its high homology with LBP, presented
contrary effects to LBP, resulting in a dose-dependent inhibition of
LPS-dependent activation of both human PBMC and mouse macrophages.
Confirming those results, the presence of BPI in the two concentrations
used inhibited both LPS-induced TNF-
and NO production by mouse
peritoneal macrophages. In accordance with our previous report, these
data suggest the possibility of differential activating pathways
utilized by mouse macrophages in response to LPS, or even the potential
participation of independent receptors in that response.
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PTK activity appears to correspond to one of the earliest
biochemical steps to be triggered by LPS. Experiments were designed,
therefore, to evaluate the potential participation of PTK activation in
the differential pathways leading to TNF-
vs NO production by mouse
macrophages in response to LPS. The key role of the PTK in the cascade
of activation induced by LPS was first confirmed by utilizing PTK
inhibitors. Pretreatment of mouse macrophages with either 30 µg/ml of
genestein or 7.5 µg/ml of herbimycin A (IC50) abolished
the secretion of IL-6, TNF-
, and NO induced by LPS treatment (data
not shown), thus confirming similar results obtained with human
monocytes (33).
The PTK activity of mouse macrophages was assessed by examining the
patterns of proteins phosphorylated in response to LPS using Western
blot analysis. Upon stimulation with LPS, a number of proteins become
phosphorylated, presenting different patterns of phosphorylation over
time (Fig. 2
). Since the phosphorylation
of several proteins (38, 42, 45, 46, 56/57, 85, and 119 kDa) was
maximal at 30 min following stimulation with LPS, this time was chosen
as the peak time of activation in kinase activity for subsequent
analysis, the time at which the effect of both LPS-binding proteins,
LBP and BPI, on the LPS-dependent response was evaluated. For
these studies, mouse macrophages were incubated with LPS in the
presence or absence of LBP or BPI using previously established
conditions to result in differential inhibition of TNF-
but not NO
secretion (Fig. 1
). The results, depicted in Figure 3
, indicate that neither the addition of
LBP nor BPI detectably diminished, but rather enhanced, the pattern of
phosphorylation of proteins that was induced by LPS treatment of mouse
macrophages.
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The activation of transcription factors and their subsequent
translocation into the nucleus have been reported as early events in
the activation cascade induced by LPS in macrophages. The
next experiments, therefore, were designed to evaluate the potential
participation of different transcription factors in the differential
response induced by LBP and BPI on peritoneal macrophages
activation by LPS. The presence of transcription factors in the nucleus
after 30 min of stimulation was assessed by EMSA. In Figure 4
shows that the translocation of NF-
B
to the nucleus induced stimulation with as little as 1 ng/ml LPS in
mouse macrophages. The addition of TNF-
-inhibitory concentrations of
LBP did not induce any detectable decrease in NF-
B; rather, an
increase in the translocation of the proteins was observed when
peritoneal macrophages were stimulated with LPS-LBP complexes.
Similarly, no decrease could be detected in NF-
B translocation to
the nucleus upon treatment with BPI plus LPS, in comparison to
LPS alone. Equivalent results were observed when 10-fold increased
concentrations of each component were used, independently of the nature
of LPS (rough or smooth; data not shown).
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B to present "active" forms. The
heterodimeric complex of the p65 and p50 forms of NF-
B leads to the
transactivation of genes, while some homodimers (p50) present an
impaired binding to DNA (34, 35). Therefore, to further evaluate
whether the observed inhibition in TNF-
production was due to an
impaired translocation of the appropriate transcription factors, the
composition of the NF-
B complex was evaluated by supershift assays
using specific Abs against the different components of the NF-
B
complex. As shown by the data in Figure 5
B complex, primarily composed of p50, and p65 to a
lesser extent. As demonstrated previously, the addition of either LBP
or BPI appears to enhance the translocation of the whole NF-
B
complex, while neither of these LPS-binding proteins seems to
drastically modify the conformation of the complex induced by LPS
treatment.
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The next series of experiments was performed to determine
whether the divergent responses observed in terms of TNF-
and NO
production might result from the blockage in the synthesis of mRNA for
both TNF-
and iNOS. Therefore, the presence of
mRNAs for these proteins was semiquantitated by RT-PCR
amplification at different times of of mouse macrophage stimulation
with LPS in the presence or absence of either LBP or BPI. The results
indicate significant amounts of TNF-
transcript after 2
h of LPS stimulation (Fig. 6
). Relatively
high basal mRNA levels, however, were detected in the control, probably
due to the degree of activation that peritoneal macrophages manifest
upon stimulation for 5 days with thioglycollate and adherence to
plastic. Interestingly, when LBP-LPS complexes were used as stimulus,
no inhibition could be detected in the TNF-
or iNOStranscripts accumulation, compared with treatment with LPS alone.
Similar results were obtained with macrophages treated with BPI plus
LPS. For the same cells, the LPS-induced iNOS mRNA was shown
to be increased at later times compared with TNF-
, reaching the
maximum at 6 h postactivation. As observed with TNF-
, combined
treatment of mouse macrophages with LPS and either LBP or BPI
did not seem to detectably modify the extent of gene expression
relative to cells treated with LPS alone. Analyses of the expression of
other proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 or
IL-10) yielded results similar to those observed with TNF-
and iNOS
(data not shown).
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or iNOS mRNA was not detected by
RT-PCR, LBP-LPS complexes could differentially regulate the synthesis
vs stability of mRNA, which leads to the final TNF-
protein. To test
this hypothesis, the decay of the TNF-
mRNA induced by LPS alone or
in the presence of LBP or BPI was monitored by Northern blot. According
to our previous results with RT-PCR, 2 h of treatment with LPS
induced the expression of TNF in mouse macrophages (Fig. 7
50% could be observed at 1 h in the
group treated with LPS alone. While degradation of mRNA was observed
upon treatment with LBP-LPS or BPI-LPS complexes, a slower rate of
degradation of mRNA was observed with the LBP-LPS complex in
comparison with the LPS treatment alone. These data suggest that the
inhibition exerted by LBP in LPS-stimulated macrophages might be
related to an increased mRNA stability, as well as to a later,
posttranscriptional step in the activation cascade.
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To further evaluate potential explanations for the differences
observed in TNF-
vs NO production induced by LBP-LPS complexes,
which could not be attributed to differences in PTK activity, NF-
B
translocation to the nucleus, or induction of specific gene expression,
we have assessed the kinetics of production of these mediators
following stimulation. Peritoneal macrophages were cultured as
described above, and supernatants were collected at different times of
stimulation. The time course of TNF-
synthesis induced by LPS is
presented in Figure 8
a, where
it can be seen that this cytokine was produced at the very early points
following stimulation, with levels continuing to increase at later
times. The addition of LBP once again induced a decrease in TNF-
production that could be readily detected even at the earliest time
points tested, ruling out the possibility of an overexpression induced
by LBP and a consequent late down-regulation in TNF-
production.
When NO production was evaluated, no nitrite could be detected in
supernatants at early stimulation times, and no inhibition in the
pattern of LPS-induced NO synthesis was caused by LBP treatment (Fig. 8
b).
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| Discussion |
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synthesis (36).
Several important conclusions can be drawn initially from our
observations reported here. First, the modulatory properties of LBP on
LPS responses likely depend upon the cellular target used. Perhaps most
striking is the fact that LBP differentially affects the ability of LPS
to stimulate mouse peritoneal macrophage responses depending upon the
phenotypic response being measured. This observation leads to the
concept of two separate pathways in activation of macrophages by LPS;
the first would contribute to TNF-
/IL-6 synthesis and could be
inhibited by both human LBP and BPI, and the latter could stimulate NO
production and be inhibited only by BPI. Finally, such findings might
not be inconsistent with the existence of at least two independent
membrane-binding sites for LPS on mouse macrophages. Potential
candidates for these binding sites would include mCD14, CD11b/CD18
(37), the scavenger receptor (38), and the p73 LPS-binding protein
identified earlier by our laboratory (16). Based on those previous
results, therefore, the purpose of the work summarized in this report
was to investigate the participation of different alternative pathways
of signal activation in mouse macrophages, which could be dissected
using LBP and BPI.
It has been reported that both LBP and BPI, by competing for binding to
lipid A, inhibited the LPS activity in the Limulus
amoebocyte lysate assay, while presenting opposite effects on the
production of IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-
by human monocytes (27, 39). LBP
is known to form molecular complexes with LPS, thus facilitating its
transfer in monomer form to mCD14 and initiating signal transduction
pathway(s) (7, 8). Therefore, LPS should bind with a higher affinity to
mCD14 than to LBP to be correctly transferred. In contrast, if mouse
mCD14 had a lower binding affinity for LPS than did human mCD14, the
transfer of LPS might be not be facilitated. Thus, the addition of LBP
might conceivably suppress mouse macrophage cytokine responses by
preventing LPS transfer to mouse mCD14. Such an hypothesis would
necessarily require that the immediate events involved in LPS
activation signaling pathways were inhibited by LBP, whereas our data
reported here would not favor that conclusion.
LPS has been shown to activate several PTK implicated in the
activation of gene expression (18, 40). In our experiments, we
corroborated the participation of PTK in the cascade of activation
leading to the synthesis of TNF-
, IL-6, and NO by mouse macrophages.
Surprisingly, while LPS induced a time-dependent phosphorylation in a
number of proteins in mouse macrophages, this pattern was not
diminished by the addition of LBP or BPI; rather, phosphorylation
appeared to be substantially increased in some cases. These
observations might suggest several conclusions. First, they suggest
that LPS binding to its putative receptor on the surface of mouse
macrophages is not impeded by either LBP or BPI. In this respect, it
has been recently reported that, independently of signal transduction
initiation, LBP-LPS complexes internalize after binding to CD14 (41).
Second, they may argue against the role of PTK activation as a
necessary and sufficient event for LPS-induced proinflammatory
mediators production by mouse macrophages. It has already been
suggested that, although MAP kinases participate in LPS signaling, they
cannot account for independent events leading to NF-
B activation,
TNF-
mRNA accumulation, and protein secretion (11). Moreover, it has
recently been reported that events such as NF-
B translocation could
be induced by LPS in CD14-transfected cells without PTK involvement
(42). In agreement, Mukaida et al. have shown that at least two
pathways, one staurosporine-sensitive and the second
staurosporine-insensitive and PTK-dependent, would converge to activate
NF-
B (43).
At this level, our results demonstrate that NF-
B translocation
to the nucleus occurred following either LPS-LBP or LPS-BPI treatment;
the process was even enhanced in comparison with treatment with LPS
alone. Even though promoter analyses have strongly implicated
NF-
B in macrophage response to LPS (8), and its translocation is one
of the first detected events, our findings indicate that such
biochemical changes might not represent a crucial event(s) leading to
proinflammatory mediators synthesis, i.e., NF-
B induction alone may
not be sufficient for LPS action. Indeed, activation of NF-
B has
been reported to occur upon exposure to LPS in macrophages from both
C3H/HeN (LPS-responsive) and C3H/HeJ (LPS-hyporesponsive) mice,
although TNF-
and iNOS expression could only be detected in the
first (44). On the other hand, when we analyzed the composition of the
NF-
B complexes induced by LPS and LBP or BPI, p50 appeared to be
translocated mainly upon stimulation, while p65 seemed to be
translocated in a lesser extent. If LPS-induced translocation of the
NF-
B complex, and predominantly p50, were enhanced by treatment with
the LPS-binding proteins plus LPS, these findings might support the
concept that the inhibitory effect of the LPS-binding proteins on
LPS-induced cytokine production by mouse macrophages involves an
altered composition of the NF-
B complex rather than an actual
absence of translocation. In this regard, in tolerant-rendered
monocytes, which minimally respond to LPS stimulation, it has been
recently reported that NF-
B is still efficiently mobilized but is
unable to transactivate the TNF-
promoter, probably due to a
predominance of p50 homodimers in the complex (35). However, the
precise involvement of p50 homodimers as a primary reason for the
failure of NF-
B activation in tolerant cells is controversial (45).
Further studies may be needed to fully explain the precise role of
these compounds and the contribution to our results.
In our studies, we were not able to detect a fully inhibitory
effect of LBP or BPI on LPS-dependent expression of TNF-
or iNOS
mRNA. These data suggest that the inhibition exerted by LBP in
LPS-stimulated macrophages might be related to a later step in the
activation cascade. Expression of TNF-
has been reported to be
regulated at several levels: transcriptional, posttranscriptional,
translational, and posttranslational (46, 47). Posttranscriptional
regulation has been similarly observed for iNOS, the synthesis of
which may be linked to negative feedbacks on NF-
B (48).
Moreover, the expression of both proinflammatory mediators seems to be
reciprocally controlled (49, 50). One logical conclusion could be,
therefore, that LBP-LPS complexes differentially regulate the synthesis
vs stability of mRNA that leads to the final products. Our analyses of
this issue have shown an increased stability of TNF-
mRNA induced by
LPS in the presence of LBP at earlier times, which could account for
some of the inhibitory effect of LBP on the LPS-induced TNF-
response. Recent reports showing differences in the production of
surface vs secreted TNF-
would certainly indicate the complexity in
the regulation of synthesis of this protein (51). Another alternative
explanation might be that higher initial TNF-
synthesis induced by
LBP potentiation on LPS stimulation, and a consequent down-regulation,
has contributed to a decreased final product. However, no differences
could be verified in the kinetics of TNF-
synthesis, since LBP was
inhibitory at all times after stimulation. On the other hand, while we
could not determine differences in other cytokines transcription (data
not shown), the contribution of anti-inflammatory cytokines, such
as IL-10, that could be "deactivating" macrophage response to LPS
(52) cannot be ruled out.
Although events such as PTK or NF
B activation were demonstrated to
occur in association with CD14 occupancy by LPS in human monocytes, our
results would indicate that they might not be unique determinants of
activation in mouse macrophages. In fact, their actual
participation in the LPS signaling cascade seems controversial, since
non-LPS structures such as spirochetal lipoproteins could initiate
monocyte activation via different cell surface events, but the
signaling pathways ultimately converge to NF-
B activation and to
produce qualitatively similar cellular responses (53). In fact, several
non-LPS-related products might induce some set of genes similar to LPS,
as well as activate PTK (54), and even Gram-positive structures
could activate monocytic cells via CD14-dependent mechanisms
(55). In this respect, it is possible to hypothesize that the final
response observed might depend rather on the strength of activation and
that alternative, yet to be identified events might also participate.
Additionally, the strength of activation might, in turn, depend on the
stochastic occupancy of the number of receptors for LPS in the surface
of the cells.
In conclusion, we have demonstrated that, in contrast with what
has been shown to occur in human monocytes, LBP inhibited cytokine
production of mouse macrophages stimulated with LPS. Activation of PTK,
NF-
B translocation, and cytokine gene transcription were not
significantly modified by the treatment with LPS-LBP complexes. Even,
to some extent, the stability of the TNF-
mRNA induced by LPS seemed
not to be so drastically altered by LBP as to fully explain the
inhibitory action of LBP. These early signaling events for
LPS-dependent activation of macrophages seem to be involved in signal
transduction initiated by LPS at a point preceding the divergence of
the pathways that differentially regulate the expression of TNF-
and
NO production, which might rather, or additionally, be controlled by
some as yet to be defined posttranscriptional regulatory mechanism. The
evaluation of every single step in the activation pathway induced by
LPS, wherein the arrest takes place, or the different types of signals
that might contribute to the final products is beyond the scope of this
manuscript. Further studies are required to achieve the full
characterization of all of the intricate mechanisms that could be
involved in the cascade of activation induced by LPS.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
clone. We also acknowledge with gratitude Dr. Lance Miller for
his assistance in RT-PCR techniques, Dr. William Murphy for his advice
on mRNA stability studies, and Dr. Tsuneo Suzuki for his helpful advice
for the preparation of this manuscript. We thank Ms. Kathy Rode for
assisting in the preparation of the final format of this manuscript. | Footnotes |
|---|
2 Current address: National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, Denver, CO. ![]()
3 Current address: Takeda Chemical Industries, Osaka, Japan. ![]()
4 Current address: University of Tokyo, Department of Cancer Cell Research, Tokyo, Japan. ![]()
5 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. David C. Morrison, Department of Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology, University of Kansas Medical Center, 3901 Rainbow Blvd., 1000 Wahl Hall East, Kansas City, KS 66160. E-mail address: ![]()
6 Abbreviations used in this paper: LBP, LPS-binding protein; PTK, protein tyrosine kinases; NO, nitric oxide; iNOS, inducible nitric oxide synthase; BPI, bactericidal/permeability increasing protein; EMSA, electrophoretic mobility shift assay; mCD14, membrane CD14. ![]()
Received for publication August 29, 1997. Accepted for publication April 30, 1998.
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