1. It is well known that neutrophils act as mediators of tissue injury in a variety of inflammatory diseases. Their histotoxic activity is presently thought to involve proteinases and oxidants, primarily hypochlorous acid (HOCl). This oxidant is also capable of inactivating the specific inhibitor of neutrophil elastase (alpha 1-antitrypsin), thereby favouring digestion of the connective matrix. 2. In the present work, we found that sulphanilamide and some sulphanilamide-related anti-inflammatory drugs such as dapsone, nimesulide and sulphapyridine reduce the availability of HOCl in the extracellular microenvironment of activated neutrophils and prevent the inactivation of alpha 1-antitrypsin by these cells in a dose-dependent manner. The ability of each drug to prevent alpha 1-antitrypsin from inactivation by neutrophils correlates significantly with its capacity to reduce the recovery of HOCl from neutrophils. Five other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were completely ineffective. 3. Therefore, sulphanilamide-related drugs, i.e. dapsone, nimesulide and sulphapyridine, have the potential to reduce the bioavailability of neutrophil-derived HOCl and, in turn, to favour the alpha 1-antitrypsin-dependent control of neutrophil elastolytic activity. These drugs appear as a well-defined group of agents which are particularly prone to attenuate neutrophil histotoxicity. They can also be viewed as a previously unrecognized starting point for the development of new compounds in order to plan rational therapeutic strategies for controlling tissue injury during neutrophilic inflammation.

Neutrophil polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) can inactivate the PMN-elastase inhibitor alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT) proteolytically, by using metalloproteinases normally stored as zymogens in myeloperoxidase (MPO)-negative granules. Supernatants from opsonized zymosan (OPZ)-triggered human PMN cleaved and inactivated human A1AT through a process inhibitable by metal-chelators, suggesting that the interaction of PMN with OPZ leads to the extracellular availability of active metalloenzymes. During OPZ-triggering, PMN used approximately 80% of the generated hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to produce HOCl by means of the MPO pathway, while the remainder was catabolized by PMN themselves. No H2O2 was available as free compound in the extracellular environment and hydroxyl (.OH) or .OH-like radicals were not generated. The selective deletion of single components of the HOCl-generating MPO pathway resulted in the generation of PMN supernatants free of active metalloenzymes but rich of the corresponding zymogens. Similar results were obtained by replacing normal PMN with cells from a patient with hereditary MPO deficiency. No evidence was obtained for the intervention or contribution of .OH-like radicals, serine-proteinases and oxidized glutathione in the transformation of the zymogens into enzymes able to inactivate A1AT. On concluding, PMN undergoing phagocytosis release MPO in amount sufficient to handle the extracellular pool of the generated H2O2 entirely, leading to the generation of equimolar amounts of HOCl. In turn, HOCl or a similar compound derived from it interacts with concomitantly released metallozymogens, switching on their A1AT inactivating potential without the apparent contribution of other PMN-derived molecules.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Human neutrophils, plated on fibronectin (FN)-coated wells, were found to release large quantities of superoxide anion (O2-) in response to tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). The O2- release was completely inhibited by two monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs, MHM23 and TS1/18) against CD18 glycoproteins. An independently derived anti-CD18 MoAb (60.3) was ineffective. These MoAbs failed to inhibit neutrophil adhesion to FN-coated surfaces. Moreover, neutrophils incubated for 30 min on FN and then washed to remove non-adherent cells, were responsive to TNF-alpha in the presence of anti-CD18 MoAbs MHM23 and TS1/18. Consequently, the CD18-dependent capacitation of the respiratory burst can occur before TNF-alpha triggering. Finally, neutrophils plated on FN in the presence of anti-CD18 MoAbs and then washed, i.e. adherent cells blocked in their surface CD18 molecules, released O2- after adding TNF-alpha but only in the absence of additional anti-CD18 MoAbs. This is consistent with a TNF-alpha ability to induce rapid expression and activation of new oxidative burst-capacitating CD18 molecules. The results suggest that the anchorage of neutrophils to FN surfaces depends on adherence molecules apparently unrelated to CD18, probably the so-called fibronectin receptors (FNRs), whereas the capacitation of the respiratory burst in response to TNF-alpha requires the intervention of CD18 glycoproteins, available on the membrane of "resting" neutrophils or mobilized to the cell surface by TNF-alpha.