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*
Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology and
Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL 35294; and
Biomedical Sciences Research Center "A. Fleming," Vari, Greece
| Abstract |
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, IL-1ß,
and IL-6 acting alone, in combination, or in concert with hormones. The
anaphylotoxin C5a, generated during complement activation, induces in
vitro the synthesis of these cytokines by leukocytes and of acute-phase
proteins by HepG2 cells. However, there is no clear evidence for a role
of C5a or any other complement activation product in regulation of the
APR in vivo. In this study, using human C-reactive protein (CRP)
transgenic mice deficient in C3 or C5, we investigated whether
complement activation contributes to induction of the acute-phase
proteins CRP and serum amyloid P-component (SAP). Absence of C3 or C5
resulted in decreased LPS-induced up-regulation of the
CRP transgene and the mouse SAP gene.
Also, LPS induced both the IL-1ß and
IL-6 genes in normocomplementemic mice, but in
complement-deficient mice it significantly induced only
IL-6. Like LPS injection, activation of complement by
cobra venom factor led to significant elevation of serum CRP and SAP in
normocomplementemic mice but not in complement-deficient mice.
Injection of recombinant human C5a into human CRP transgenic mice
induced the IL-1ß gene and caused significant
elevation of both serum CRP and SAP. However, in human CRP transgenic
IL-6-deficient mice, recombinant human C5a did not induce the
CRP nor the SAP gene. Based on these
data, we conclude that during the APR, C5a generated as a consequence
of complement activation acts in concert with IL-6 and/or IL-1ß to
promote up-regulation of the CRP and SAP
genes. | Introduction |
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, IL-1ß, and IL-6 acting alone, in combination, or
in concert with various steroid hormones (3, 4, 5). A
convenient murine model for studying induction of acute-phase protein
genes is i.p. injection of LPS (6), which reproducibly
elicits increased expression of proinflammatory cytokines (6, 7). LPS also activates the classical and alternative pathways of
complement (8, 9), leading to generation of the bioactive
peptides C3a and C5a (10). The anaphylotoxin C5a elicits
from target cells a wide range of activities (10),
including the synthesis of TNF-
, IL-1-ß, and IL-6 by leukocytes
(11, 12, 13), which amplify the inflammatory process. The
biological activity of C5a is mediated through the C5a receptor (C5aR,
CD88), a G-protein-coupled seven-transmembrane-domain protein expressed
on cells of myeloid origin (10, 14), and also on
nonmyeloid cells in the liver and lung (15, 16, 17). In mice,
hepatic expression of C5aR is increased by administration of LPS
(17). Furthermore, C5a has been shown to induce the
synthesis and secretion of acute-phase proteins by HepG2 cells
(16, 17). Thus, it seems likely that by binding to C5aR on
liver cells and/or by stimulating secretion of proinflammatory
cytokines by myeloid cells, C5a generated as a consequence of
complement activation contributes to regulation of the APR. The pentraxins C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid P-component (SAP) (18, 19) are evolutionarily conserved, Ca2+-binding proteins that participate variably in the APR in different species (3). For example, CRP is a major acute-phase protein in humans (20), while in the mouse it is a trace plasma component and only a minor acute-phase protein (21, 22, 23). In contrast, SAP is highly inducible during the APR in mice but not in humans (24). Numerous studies using freshly isolated human hepatocytes and hepatoma cell lines have established that IL-6 is the major inducer of the CRP gene and that IL-1 and glucocorticoids act in synergy with IL-6 to enhance CRP gene induction (25, 26, 27, 28, 29). Similar studies using primary mouse hepatocytes (30) have shown that the mouse SAP gene can be induced directly by either IL-1 or IL-6. We have shown (31) that in mice constitutive and IL-6-induced acute-phase expression of a human CRP transgene requires testosterone, whereas testosterone does not influence expression of the mouse SAP gene, which requires IL-1 plus IL-6 for acute-phase expression.
Horowitz et al. (32) reported an association between in vivo activation of the alternative complement pathway by inulin and increased serum CRP levels in rabbits, but the observation was not pursued further. Shortly thereafter, Pepys and Rogers reported (33) that in mice depleted of complement by i.p. injection of cobra venom factor (CoVF), induction of SAP by LPS was unaffected. However, the impact of complement activation by CoVF per se on SAP expression was not addressed. Recently, we reported (34) that 24 h after injection of CoVF into human CRP transgenic (CRPtg) mice, serum levels of human CRP and mouse SAP are elevated.
In the present study, we generated by selective breeding CRPtg mice deficient in C3 (C3D) or C5 (C5D) to investigate directly the contribution of these complement proteins to the induction of the CRP and SAP genes during the APR. We show that absence of either C3 or C5 attenuates the response of the human CRP transgene and mouse SAP gene to LPS. Injection of CoVF alone led to significant elevation of serum CRP and SAP in normocomplementemic mice, but not in either complement deficient strain. Importantly, injection of recombinant human C5a (rC5a) mimicked the effect of complement activation by CoVF, i.e., it caused elevation of serum CRP and SAP. Injection of rC5a into C3D or C5D mice also elicited elevation of CRP and SAP. In complement-deficient mice, the reduced acute-phase expression of the CRP and SAP genes after LPS administration was paralleled by the absence of significant elevation of serum IL-1ß. Conversely, induction of the CRP and SAP genes in these mice by injection of rC5a was associated with elevation of serum IL-1ß, but not of IL-6. Nevertheless, an absolute requirement for IL-6 in the induction of CRP and SAP by rC5a was indicated by the failure of rC5a to induce either gene in IL-6-deficient (IL-6D) mice. The combined data support the notion that C5a generated during complement activation contributes to up-regulation of the CRP and SAP genes during the APR. C5a does not act directly to mediate expression of these acute-phase genes, rather its effect is mediated in concert with IL-6 and/or of IL-1ß.
| Materials and Methods |
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All mice used in this study were fed and watered ad libitum and barrier maintained under a 12-h light-dark cycle according to protocols established by the Animal Resources Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. We have previously described the establishment of a breeding colony of CRPtg C57BL/6J congenic mice (35). CRPtg mice carry a 31-kb ClaI fragment of human genomic DNA comprised of the CRP gene, 17 kb of 5'-flanking sequence, and 11.3 kb of 3' flanking sequence (36). After injection of LPS into CRPtg mice, peak levels of serum IL-1 and IL-6 are attained by 2 h, followed by a human CRP response with peak serum levels reached by 18 h (31). The generation and genetic background of IL-6D and complement C3D mice has also been described (37, 38). IL-6D mice are homozygous for a disruption of the fourth exon of the murine IL-6 gene and produce no serum IL-6 after LPS injection (37). C3D mice produce no serum complement C3 due to targeted disruption of the murine C3 gene promoter (38) and lack the ability to generate C3-convertases through the alternative pathway and C5-convertases through either the classical or alternative pathway. DBA/2J mice are complement C5D due to a spontaneous mutation in exon 7 of the murine C5 gene (39).
Female CRPtg mice were crossed with IL-6D males to produce hybrids, and CRPtg hybrids were backcrossed to the IL-6D parent to generate CRPtg/IL-6D mice. The same breeding system was used to generate CRPtg/C3D and CRPtg/C5D mice. C3D and IL-6D mice were backcrossed to C57BL/6J for at least five generations before hybridization with CRPtg. Mice were screened for presence of the CRP transgene and for inheritance of the C3 or C5 mutant alleles using PCRs specific for human CRP (40), mouse C3 (38), or mouse C5 (39). IL-6D, C3D, and C5D vs sufficient progeny were obtained in the expected Mendellian ratios. The CRP transgene was responsive to induction by LPS in all three types of CRPtg F1 hybrids. Male F2 mice (812 wk old) were used in experiments, and all appeared normal and healthy.
Administration of LPS, CoVF, and rC5a
LPS from Eschericia coli (serotype 026:B6) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO), resuspended in sterile 0.9% NaCl, and injected i.p. at a dose of 25 µg per mouse. CoVF from Naja naja (Quidel Corporation, San Diego, CA) was dissolved in sterile pyrogen-free 0.9% NaCl (Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, IL) and also injected i.p. at 25 µg per mouse. N. naja CoVF is known to support the formation of potent C3- and C5-convertases (41, 42). We have shown (34) that single i.p. injection of 25 µg CoVF reduces mouse serum C3 to <3% of initial values within 4 h and that the hypocomplementemia lasts several days. rC5a (Sigma-Aldrich) was reconstituted in 0.25% (w/v) BSA in sterile pyrogen-free 0.9% NaCl and injected i.p. at 2.520 µg/mouse. rC5a has been shown to activate various mouse cells including mast cells (43), astrocytes (44), and monocytes and macrophages (10, 45). Limulus amebocyte assays confirmed that CoVF and rC5a was not contaminated with endotoxin.
Measurement of serum IL-1ß, IL-6, CRP, and SAP
Sera from blood samples (50 µl) collected before and 2 and 18 h after injection of stimulants were used to measure the concentration of IL-1ß and IL-6 (2 h sera) and CRP and SAP (18 h sera). Mouse IL-1ß and IL-6 ELISAs were performed exactly as described (31, 37) using rat mAb MP5-20F3 and biotinylated mAb MP5-32C11 (PharMingen, San Diego, CA) for IL-6 detection and rat mAb 13A10 and biotinylated mAb 13D11 (Biosource International, Camarillo, CA) for IL-1ß detection. Peroxidase-labeled goat anti-biotin (Vector Laboratories, Burlingame, CA) was used as the reporter, and recombinant mouse IL-1ß and recombinant mouse IL-6 (Genzyme, Cambridge, MA) were used to generate standard curves. The lower limit of detection in each case was 10 pg of cytokine/ml. CRPtg/IL-6D mice were identified by absence of detectable IL-6 in sera collected 2 h after LPS injection (31). ELISA for CRP used sheep anti-human CRP serum (Cappel, Durham, NC) and anti-CRP mAb HD2-4 (46) as the capture and detection Ab, respectively, and affinity-purified human CRP (47) as the standard. The assay does not detect mouse CRP and has a lower limit of detection of 20 ng of human CRP per ml of mouse serum. ELISA for mouse SAP was performed as described (48) using sheep and rabbit anti-SAP serum as the capture and detection Ab, respectively, and mouse SAP reference standards all from Calbiochem-Novabiochem (San Diego, CA). The lower limit of detection is 25 µg of SAP per ml serum.
Statistical analysis
All values are reported as the mean ± SEM of at least three experiments. Comparisons of means were performed using Students t tests with p < 0.05 considered significant.
| Results |
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12-fold increase of serum human CRP in normocomplementemic
CRPtg mice but only an
4-fold increase in CRPtg/C3D and CRPtg/C5D
mice (Fig. 1
20-fold in
normocomplementemic controls as compared with
10-fold in
complement-deficient mice. However, the difference in SAP increase
between the two groups did not achieve statistical significance (Fig. 1
2.5-fold by LPS in
CRPtg/IL-6D mice (Fig. 1
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The combined data suggested that complement activation products act
together with IL-6 and probably also IL-1ß to enhance induction of
the CRP transgene by LPS. In the case of SAP, the enhancing
effect of complement activation was less pronounced and probably could
also be attributed to interaction with IL-6 and IL-1ß. To further
investigate the effects of complement activation on the APR, we
measured the cytokine and acute-phase protein responses of mice
injected with the potent complement activator CoVF. As shown in Fig. 2
, injection of CoVF in
normocomplementemic mice reproducibly induced significant elevation of
both CRP and SAP. Neither acute-phase protein was elevated
substantially following CoVF injection in C3D or C5D mice, indicating
that CoVF-induced up-regulation was mediated by complement activation
products and not directly by CoVF or by a possible contaminant in the
CoVF preparation. Injection of CoVF did not induce the
IL-1ß or the IL-6 gene (data not shown) and
failed to up-regulate CRP and SAP in IL-6D mice. The results are
consistent with the view that complement activation products act in
concert with IL-6 to enhance the APR.
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| Discussion |
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The data we have generated using LPS-injected CRPtg mice and their
IL-6D counterparts (Fig. 1
) reinforce these concepts and are in
agreement with our previous finding that in male CRPtg mice IL-6 is
essential for acute-phase induction of CRP while maximal induction of
SAP requires both IL-6 and IL-1ß (31, 35). A novel
finding of the present study is that in complement-deficient mice
receiving LPS, up-regulation of CRP and SAP is blunted (Fig. 1
, A and B) despite significant up-regulation of
serum IL-6 (Fig. 1
C). Furthermore, following LPS injection
there is no significant elevation of IL-1ß in the sera of
complement-deficient mice (Fig. 1
D). As it is known that in
addition to being a strong inducer of cytokine synthesis
(7) LPS is an efficient activator of the complement
alternative and classical pathways (8, 9), we speculated
that LPS-mediated complement activation contributed to the observed
up-regulation of the IL-1ß, CRP, and
SAP genes. To further test this concept, we measured the APR
of mice injected with CoVF, a protein that activates the alternative
complement pathway (41, 42). We found that CoVF injection
caused significant elevation of both CRP and SAP serum levels in CRPtg
mice, but not in their C3D, C5D, or IL-6D counterparts (Fig. 2
).
Furthermore, CoVF induced CRP and SAP without eliciting significant
increase of serum IL-1ß or IL-6. The combined results strongly
support the concept that complement activation and up-regulation of
serum CRP and SAP are causally related, as originally proposed by
Horowitz et al. (32).
Because there was no substantial difference between C3D and C5D mice in
terms of their attenuated acute-phase responses to either LPS or CoVF
(Figs. 1
and 2
), we reasoned that probably the crucial defect was their
common inability to generate C5a during complement activation. Direct
proof for this hypothesis was provided by experiments using rC5a.
Injection of rC5a led to significant elevation of CRP and SAP serum
levels in CRPtg mice in a dose-dependent manner (Fig. 3
). Also,
injected rC5a elicited significant elevation of serum CRP in both C3D
and C5D mice (Fig. 5
). Injection of rC5a also induced significant
elevation of IL-1ß but not of IL-6 (Fig. 4
). However, the
CRP transgene was not responsive to rC5a in IL-6D mice (Fig. 5
). Thus, the C5a effect on CRP expression apparently requires the
presence of IL-6, albeit in low concentrations such as those expected
to be expressed constitutively in CRPtg mice.
It has been shown that in vitro C5a induces the synthesis and release
of leukocyte-derived cytokines (11, 12, 13) known to
participate in the regulation of the APR (3, 4, 5) and the
expression of the acute-phase proteins
1-antitrypsin,
1-antichymotrypsin, C3, and complement factor
B by HepG2 cells (16, 17). The current investigation using
CRPtg mice has provided the first direct evidence that C5a contributes
to the regulation of the APR in vivo. The significance of these
findings is underlined by the fact that complement activation is an
early consequence of most if not all forms of tissue injury that cause
an APR. Included are bacterial infections, burns, ischemic necrosis,
and immune-complex-mediated injury. Therefore, we propose that C5a
generated as a consequence of complement activation following tissue
damage or necrosis cooperates with proinflammatory cytokines and stress
hormones to ensure maximal acute-phase expression of CRP, SAP, and
perhaps also additional acute-phase proteins. Thus, complement
activation products are an integral component of the highly complex
network of mediators that interact to ensure appropriate expression of
genes during the APR.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Alexander J. Szalai, Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL 35294-0006. ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: APR, acute-phase response; C3D, C3 deficient; C5aR, C5a receptor (CD88); C5D, C5 deficient (DBA/2J mice); CRP, C-reactive protein; CRPtg, human CRP transgenic C57BL/6J mice; IL-6D, IL-6 deficient; rC5a, recombinant human C5a; SAP, mouse serum amyloid P-component; CoVF, cobra venom factor. ![]()
Received for publication January 4, 2000. Accepted for publication April 25, 2000.
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