Toll-like receptors are transmembrane proteins that are involved in the innate immune recognition of microbial constituents. Among them, Toll-like receptor 4 (Tlr4) is a crucial signal transducer for LPS, the major component of Gram-negative bacteria outer cell membrane. The contribution of Tlr4 to the host response to LPS and to infection with virulent Salmonella typhimurium was studied in four transgenic (Tg) strains including three overexpressing Tlr4. There was a good correlation between the level of Tlr4 mRNA expression and the sensitivity to LPS both in vitro and in vivo: Tg mice possessing the highest number of Tlr4 copies respond the most to LPS. Overexpression of Tlr4 by itself appears to have a survival advantage in Tg mice early during infection: animals possessing more than two copies of the gene survived longer and in a greater percentage to Salmonella infection. The beneficial effect of Tlr4 overexpression is greatly enhanced when the mice present a wild-type allele at natural resistance-associated macrophage protein 1, another critical innate immune gene involved in resistance to infection with Salmonella. Tlr4 and natural resistance-associated macrophage protein 1 exhibit functional epistatic interaction to improve the capacity of the host to control bacterial replication. However, this early improvement in disease resistance is not conducted later during infection, because mice overexpressing Tlr4 developed an excessive inflammatory response detrimental to the host.

The central role of alveolar macrophages in the establishment of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced lung inflammation is well demonstrated. They produce and release numerous proinflammatory molecules, among which is tumor necrosis factor ␣ (TNF-␣), a cytokine responsible in part for the neutrophilic alveolitis. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) produced by LPS-activated mononuclear phagocytes is a major anti-inflammatory cytokine that down-regulates TNF-␣ synthesis. We studied the ability of murine alveolar macrophages to produce IL-10 in vivo and in vitro, in response to LPS. Unexpectedly, the IL-10 protein was not detected in the whole lung and airspaces after LPS intranasal instillation. In addition, no IL-10 protein was found in supernatants of isolated and LPSstimulated alveolar macrophages. The lack of IL-10 synthesis was confirmed by the absence of specific RNA transcripts. By contrast and as expected, autologous peritoneal macrophages produced IL-10 upon LPS challenge. Drugs that usually modify the TNF-␣/IL-10 balance in favor of IL-10 were used without success. Thus, maneuvers allowing an increase in intracellular cAMP concentrations did not reverse this unexpected phenotype. Moreover, direct activation of protein kinase C with PMA was unable to trigger IL-10 formation by alveolar, by contrast to peritoneal, macrophages. The current findings describe a specific phenotype for murine alveolar macrophages during LPS-induced inflammation. J. Leukoc. Biol. 67: 545-552; 2000.

Upon LPS exposure, mononuclear phagocytes produce TNF-α and IL-10, two cytokines with pro- and anti-inflammatory activities, respectively. We previously described that murine resident alveolar macrophages, which play a central role in the immunosurveillance of the lung alveoli, do not synthesize IL-10 in vivo or in vitro when exposed to LPS. In the present report we demonstrate that during lung inflammation induced by the intranasal administration of LPS, bronchoalveolar cells collected between days 3 and 5 are able to synthesize IL-10 when exposed to LPS. We also show that depletion of resident alveolar macrophages by an intratracheal instillation of liposome-encapsulated clodronate is followed by subsequent replenishment of the airspaces by mononuclear phagocytes. This is accompanied by the transient competence of cells for IL-10 production. The cell capacity to produce IL-10 is evident up to 3 days and then decreases. This led us to hypothesize that the alveolar environment contains a down-regulator of LPS-induced IL-10 synthesis by recently emigrating mononuclear phagocytes. We show that the surfactant protein A, an airspace protein that has known immunomodulatory activities, dramatically inhibits LPS-induced IL-10 formation by bone marrow-derived macrophages. These data show a difference between resident and inflammatory macrophages with respect to IL-10 synthesis. Moreover, this study highlights for the first time the inhibitory role of surfactant protein A in the anti-inflammatory activity of macrophages through inhibition of IL-10 production.