Recombinant mouse interleukin 10 (IL-10) was exceedingly potent at suppressing the ability of mouse peritoneal macrophages (m phi) to release tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). The IC50 of IL-10 for the suppression of TNF-alpha release induced by 0.5 microgram/ml lipopolysaccharide was 0.04 +/- 0.03 U/ml, with as little as 1 U/ml suppressing TNF-alpha production by a factor of 21.4 +/- 2.5. At 10 U/ml, IL-10 markedly suppressed m phi release of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) (IC50 3.7 +/- 1.8 U/ml), but only weakly inhibited m phi release of reactive nitrogen intermediates (RNI). Since TNF-alpha is a T cell growth and differentiation factor, whereas ROI and RNI are known to inhibit lymphocyte function, it is possible that m phi exposed to low concentrations of IL-10 suppress lymphocytes. m phi deactivated by higher concentrations of IL-10 might be permissive for the growth of microbial pathogens and tumor cells, as TNF-alpha, ROI, and RNI are major antimicrobial and tumoricidal products of m phi. IL-10's effects on m phi overlap with but are distinct from the effects of the two previously described cytokines that suppress the function of mouse m phi, transforming growth factor beta and macrophage deactivation factor. Based on results with neutralizing antibodies, all three m phi suppressor factors appear to act independently.

We report the identification and purification of a new inflammatory monokine synthesized by the macrophage tumor cell line RAW 264.7 in response to endotoxin. This monokine, which we term "macrophage inflammatory protein" (MIP), is a doublet with an apparent molecular mass of approximately 8,000 daltons on SDS-PAGE but forms aggregates of greater than 2 x 10(6) daltons as assessed by gel filtration. Partial NH2-terminal amino acid sequence data reveal no significant homology with any previously described protein. Although the monokine is anionic under physiological conditions, it is one of two major macrophage-secreted proteins that bind to heparin at high salt concentrations. At 100 ng/ml or greater, MIP is chemokinetic for human polymorphonuclear cells and triggers hydrogen peroxide production. Subcutaneous injection of 10 ng or greater of MIP into footpads of C3H/HeJ mice elicits an inflammatory response, characterized by neutrophil infiltration. These findings suggest that MIP is an endogenous mediator that may play a role in the host responses that occur during endotoxemia and other inflammatory events.

SummaryThe capacity of human neutrophils (PMN) to bind tumor necrosis factor (TNF) was rapidly lost when the cells were incubated in suspension with agents that can stimulate their migratory and secretory responses . Both physiological (poly)peptides (FMLP, C5a, CSF-GM) and pharmacologic agonists (PMN, calcium ionophore A23187) induced the loss ofTNF receptors (TNF-R) from the cell surface. Half-maximal loss in TNF-R ensued after only ti2 min with 10 -7 M FMLP at 37°C, and required only 10-9 M FMLP during a 30-min exposure . However, there were no such changes even with prolonged exposure of PMN to FMLP at 4°or 16°C. Scatchard analysis revealed loss of TNF-binding sites without change in their affinity (Kd -0.4 nM) as measured at incompletely modulating concentrations of FMLP, C5a, PMA, or A23187. The binding of antiTNF-R mAbs to PMN decreased in parallel, providing independent evidence for the loss of TNF-R from the cell surface. At the same time, soluble TNF-R appeared in the medium of stimulated PMN . This inference was based on the PMN-and FMLP-dependent generation of a nonsedimentable activity that could inhibit the binding of TNF to fresh human PMN or to mouse macrophages, and the ability of mAbs specific for human TNF-R to abolish inhibition by PMN-conditioned medium of binding of TNF to mouse macrophages. Soluble TNF-R activity was associated with a protein of Mr -28,000 by ligand blot analysis of cell-free supernatants of FMLP-treated PMN . Thus, some portion of the FMLP-induced loss of TNF-R from human PMN is due to shedding of TNF-R . Shedding was unaffectedby inhibitors of serine and thiol proteases and could not be induced with phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C. Loss of TNF-R from PMN first stimulated by other agents may decrease their responsiveness to TNF. TNF-R shed by PMN may be one source of the TNF-binding proteins found in body fluids, and may blunt the actions of the cytokine on other cells.

Cells in culture are exposed to marked oxidative stress, H2O2 being one of the predominant agents. Pyruvate and other alpha-ketoacids reacted rapidly, stoichiometrically, and nonenzymatically with H2O2, and they protected cells from its cytolytic effects. All five human and murine cell types studied, both malignant and nonmalignant, released pyruvate at an initial rate of 35-60 microM/h/2.5 X 10(6) cells when placed in 1 ml pyruvate-free medium. After 6-12 h a plateau of 60-150 microM pyruvate was attained, corresponding to concentrations reported for normal human serum and plasma. The rate of pyruvate accumulation was almost doubled in the presence of exogenous catalase, suggesting that released pyruvate functions as an antioxidant. The rate of pyruvate accumulation was dependent on cell number. Succinate, fumarate, citrate, oxaloacetate, alpha-ketoglutarate, and malate were not secreted in significant amounts from P815 cells; export was specific for pyruvate and lactate among the metabolites tested. Extracellular pyruvate was in equilibrium with intracellular stores. Thus, cells conditioned the extracellular medium with pyruvate at the expense of intracellular pyruvate, until homeostatic levels were attained in both compartments. We propose that cells plated at low density in the absence of exogenous pyruvate fail to thrive for two reasons: prolonged depletion of intracellular pyruvate and prolonged vulnerability to oxidant stress.

The basis of resistance to oxidative injury was studied in six murine tumor cell lines that differed 54-fold in their resistance to enzymatically generated H(2)0(2). The tumors varied 56.7-fold in their specific activity of catalase, 5.3-fold in glutathione peroxidase (GPO), 3.3-fold in glutathione reductase (GR), and 2.7-fold in glutathione. There was no correlation among the levels of the three enzymes, and tumor cell resistance to lysis by H(2)0(2). However, the logarithm of the flux of H(2)0(2) necessary to cause 50 percent lysis of the tumor cells correlated with their content of glutathione (r = 0.91). The protective role of glutathione was analyzed by blocking GR and GPO, the catalysts of the glutathione redox cycle. This was facilitated by the demonstration that the anti-neoplastic agent 1,3-bis-(2- chloroethyl)-l-nitrosourea (BCNU) was a potent inhibitor of GR in intact tumor cells. BCNU inactivated tumor cell GR with a 50 percent inhibitory dose of 11 μM and a t(l/2) of inhibition of 30 s. Complete inhibition of GR was attained with no effect on GPO or catalase. Tumor cells whose GR was inactivated by BCNU could be lysed by fluxes of H(2)0(2) to which they were otherwise completely resistant. They could be killed by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)-stimulated, bacilli Calmette-Guerin-activated macrophages in numbers which were otherwise insufficient, and by nonactivated macrophages, which otherwise were ineffective. BCNU-treated target cells were also much more sensitive to antibody-dependent, macrophage-mediated cytolysis. However, such tumor cells were no more sensitive than controls to lysis by alloreactive T cells or by antibody plus complement. Next, we deprived tumor cells of selenium by passage in selenium-deficient mice. GPO was inhibited 85 percent in such cells, with no effect on GR or catalase. Tumor cells with reduced GPO activity were markedly sensitized to lysis by small fluxes of H(2)0(2) or by PMA-stimulated macrophages or granulocytes. In contrast, inhibition of catalase with aminotriazole had no effect on the sensitivity of three tumors to peroxide-mediated lysis, and had modest effects with two others. Thus, the oxidation-reduction cycle of glutathione serves as one of the major defense mechanisms of tumor cells against three related forms of oxidant injury: lysis by fluxes of H(2)0(2), by PMA-triggered macrophages, and by macrophages in the presence of anti-tumor antibody.

Human neutrophils adherent to proteins derived from serum or plasma, or to the basement membrane protein laminin, underwent a delayed but massive respiratory burst in response to recombinant human CSF-GM or CSF-G. No such response was elicited from neutrophils in suspension. On a molar basis, CSF-GM (EC50 approximately 126 pmol/L) and CSF-G (EC50 approximately 585 pmol/L) were about as potent as TNF alpha and TNF beta in their elicitation of H2O2 release and orders of magnitude more potent than previously studied formylated peptides or C5a. CSF-GM and CSF-G prime suspended neutrophils for a respiratory burst in response to soluble agonists, such as formylated peptides. Compared to the CSF- primed respiratory burst of nonadherent neutrophils, the CSF-triggered response of adherent neutrophils is markedly more delayed in onset (73 to 95 minutes), prolonged in duration (150 to 180 minutes), and greater in extent (approximately 60 to 100 nmol H2O2 released/10(6) neutrophils). Neither CSF-M, interleukin-3 (IL-3), nor bacterial lipopolysaccharide triggered the respiratory burst in adherent neutrophils, nor did CSF-GM or CSF-G trigger a respiratory burst in adherent monocytes. Release of CSF-GM and CSF-G in response to antigens, bacterial products, or cytokines may give mononuclear cells control over the respiratory burst of noncirculating neutrophils during inflammatory and immune responses.

A B S T R A C T GSH plays an important role in cellular defense against a wide variety of toxic electrophiles via the formation of thioether conjugates. We studied the role of GSH in murine tumor cell defense against a novel class of sulfhydryl-reactive antineoplastics, the sesquiterpene lactones (SL). Incubation of P815 mastocytoma cells with any of the four SL tested (vernolepin, helenalin, elephantopin, and eriofertopin) for 1 h resulted in 70-97% depletion of GSH. The importance of GSH resynthesis upon exposure of tumor cells to SL was evaluated with the use of buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), a selective, nontoxic inhibitor of y-glutamylcysteine synthetase. Inhibition of GSH synthesis with 0.2 mM BSO markedly enhanced SL-mediated cytolysis of four murine tumor cell lines. A 6-to 34-fold reduction in the amount of SL causing 50% lysis was obtained with BSO. Addition of BSO to P815 cells either during or immediately after a 1-h pulse with 10 ug/ml of vernolepin increased cytolysis from <3% to 78-82%. However, a 1.5-h delay in the addition of BSO to such cells, which allowed for substantial resynthesis of GSH, reduced cytolysis to 30%. Recovery of GSH synthetic capacity after BSO treatment correlated with loss of the synergistic effect of BSO on lysis by vernolepin. BSO did not augment cytolysis by six other antineoplastics (doxorubicin, mitomycin C, vinblastine, cytosine arabinoside, maytansine, and 1,3-bis-[2-chloroethyl]-1-nitrosourea [BCNU] INTRODUCTIONGlutathione, the most abundant nonprotein sulfhydryl of mammalian cells, has been shown to play a critical role in cellular defense against a variety of injurious agents (1-3). We have previously studied the role of the GSH redox cycle in tumor cell defense against oxidative injury. In those studies, interference with the GSH redox cycle augmented in vitro cytolysis of tumor cells by macrophages and granulocytes as well as by a model H202-delivery system (glucose oxidase plus glucose) (4, 5). Similar manipulations enhanced the antitumor activity of H202 in vivo (6). GSH also plays a role in protection against toxic electrophiles by thioether formation. In contrast to the cyclic oxidationreduction of GSH during antioxidant defense, restoration of GSH content after detoxification of electrophiles is dependent upon its resynthesis. In this report, we consider the role of GSH and its synthesis in tumor cell defense against sulfhydryl-reactive antineoplastics, in particular, the sesquiterpene lactones (SL) (17)(18)(19)(20), and has led to the hypothesis that their antitumor activity is the result of S-alkylation of growth-regulatory or otherwise vital macromolecules (8,18,21,22). Several sulfhydryl-dependent enzymes have been shown to be inhibited by these agents (19,(23)(24)(25). Nonetheless, the cellular targets relevant to their antitumor activity in vitro or in vivo have not been identified. Furthermore, it has not been reported whether SL are reactive towards sulfhydryl groups in intact cells.We studied four SL that are active in vitro (vernolepin, helenalin...

Among the macrophage secretory products with cytotoxic potential are the reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI), including superoxide anion (22, 23) and hydrogen peroxide (24). ROI mediate some forms of spontaneous (25) and elicited (26, 27) cytolysis by macrophages. In addition, the production of ROI by macrophages is closely related to their inhibition of a number of intracellular pathogens (reviewed in 28). Herein we report that TCM, as well as medium conditioned by certain nonmalignant cells, selectively suppresses the ability of macrophages to secrete ROI.