PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Soares, Milena B. P.
AU  - Titus, Richard G.
AU  - Shoemaker, Charles B.
AU  - David, John R.
AU  - Bozza, Marcelo
TI  - The Vasoactive Peptide Maxadilan from Sand Fly Saliva Inhibits TNF-α and Induces IL-6 by Mouse Macrophages Through Interaction with the Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide (PACAP) Receptor
DP  - 1998 Feb 15
TA  - The Journal of Immunology
PG  - 1811--1816
VI  - 160
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.jimmunol.org/content/160/4/1811.short
4100  - http://www.jimmunol.org/content/160/4/1811.full
SO  - J. Immunol.1998 Feb 15; 160
AB  - Maxadilan is a vasodilatory peptide encoded by a gene cloned from Lutzomyia longipalpis salivary glands. In this study we investigated the effects of maxadilan on macrophage functions. Maxadilan treatment of LPS-stimulated BALB/c macrophages inhibited TNF-α release but increased IL-6. Further, it also induced IL-6 release in a dose-dependent manner from unstimulated macrophages. Maxadilan increased production of PGE2, and the inhibition of TNF-α was completely abrogated by indomethacin. Others have recently shown that maxadilan is a selective agonist of the pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) type I receptor. Treatment with the receptor antagonist PACAP 6–38 blocked maxadilan activities on macrophages. The natural endogenous ligand, PACAP 38, had the same effects as maxadilan on TNF-α and IL-6 production. Finally, in a dose- and time-dependent fashion, maxadilan induced the intracellular accumulation of cAMP in macrophages. Taken together, the results presented here indicate a modulatory effect of ligands of PACAP type I receptor on cytokine production by macrophages and suggest that activation of this receptor, with the subsequent elevation of intracellular cAMP in macrophages, could participate in a negative-feedback mechanism that controls certain inflammatory responses.