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Incubation of activated mouse peritoneal macrophages with tumor cell-conditioned medium (TCM) results in their deactivation, as measured by ability to release reactive oxygen intermediates and kill protozoal pathogens. The mechanism of suppression by macrophage deactivation factor (MDF) was studied. Inhibition of H2O2 release could not be overcome by increasing the concentration of phorbol diesters used to trigger the respiratory burst. Deactivated macrophages consumed H2O2 at the same rate as activated cells (t1/2, 35-40 min for 25 nmol H2O2 per 10(6) peritoneal cells). They transported glucose with the same kinetics (Km, 1 mM; Vmax, approximately 100 nmol per 6 min per milligram cell protein), and maintained similar intracellular concentrations of NADPH and NADP (approximately 0.62 mM and approximately 0.11 mM, respectively), as measured by enzymatic cycling methods and determinations of the volume of cell water (3.6 microliter/mg cell protein). To study the kinetics of the PMA-triggered NADPH oxidase in cell lysates, mixed detergents were used (deoxycholate and Tween 20). These stabilized the oxidase for approximately 3.3-fold longer than deoxycholate alone, which was used in previous studies. Incubation of activated macrophages in MDF resulted in a marked increase in the Km of the oxidase for NADPH, from 0.06 mM to 0.67 mM. The Vmax fell approximately 1.7-fold. These kinetic changes, together with the measured intracellular concentration of NADPH, account quantitatively for the suppression of H2O2 release by deactivated macrophages, and are nearly the mirror image of the kinetic changes observed during macrophage activation.

Plasma membranes prepared from guinea-pig peritoneal polymorphonuclear leucocytes showed an immune-complex-binding activity that corresponded well with the activity in intact cells. The characteristics of this activity were reversible binding, dependence on the Fc portion of antigen-complexed IgG (immunoglobulin G), competition with aggregated IgG and independence from energy metabolism. These results support the conclusion that the binding activity found in the isolated plasma membranes is an Fc-receptor activity of guinea-pig peritoneal polymorphonuclear leucocytes. The activity showed Kd = 6.7×10(-8) M-IgG and maximum binding of 17 pmol of IgG/mg of membrane protein when measured with an immune complex of alpha-amylase and homologous guinea-pig anti-(alpha-amylase) IgG. Inhibition of the Fc-receptor activity by a series of various salts indicated the contribution of the hydrophobic interaction to the binding. Inhibitory effects of salts or metal-chelating reagents on the Fc-receptor activity were also observed on superoxide generation by these cells induced by the immune complex, suggesting a role of the Fc receptor as the immune-complex-binding site responsible for the initiation of superoxide generation.

Defective NADPH oxidase components prevent superoxide (O-2) generation, causing chronic granulomatous disease (CGD). X-linked CGD patients have mutations in the gene encoding the gp91(phox) subunit of cytochrome b558 and usually lack gp91(phox) protein completely (X91(0)). gp91(phox) is considered to be a flavocytochrome that contains binding sites for NADPH, FAD, as well as heme. We here report a rare X-linked CGD patient whose neutrophils entirely failed to produce O-2, but presented a diminished expression of gp91(phox) containing about one-third of the heme present in normal individuals by Soret absorption. Translocation of cytosolic factors p67(phox) and p47(phox) was normal. However, the FAD content in his neutrophil membranes was as low as that of X91(0) patients, suggesting complete depletion of FAD in his gp91(phox). This was in agreement with the finding that a single base substitution (C1024 to T) changed His-338 to Tyr in gp91(phox) in a predicted FAD-binding domain of the flavocytochrome model. The loss of FAD could not be corrected even after addition of reagent FAD or a FAD-rich dehydrogenase fraction isolated from normal neutrophils to the patient's membranes, in a reconstitution in vitro with normal cytosol. These results indicate that His-338 is a very critical residue for FAD incorporation into the NADPH oxidase system. This is the first such mutation found in CGD.

To compare the kinetics of the O-2-generating enzyme in nonactivated and activated macrophages and granulocytes from the mouse peritoneal cavity, we sought conditions in which the activity of this enzyme in cell lysates was comparable to that in intact cells. Pretreatment of macrophages with 10 mM diethyldithiocarbamate inhibited endogenous superoxide dismutase by 70% and enhanced O-2 secretion up to 15-fold, so that it was comparable to H2O2 secretion. O-2 secretion was terminated by detergent lysis and reconstituted by addition of NAD(P)H to the lysates. Optimal detection of O-2 production in lysates depended on prior stimulation of the respiratory burst, lysis with 0.05% deoxycholate rather than any of 4 other detergents or sonication, acetylation of the cytochrome c used as an indicator, and addition of NADPH rather than NADH. Kinetic analysis using NADPH-reconstituted deoxycholate lysates, together with spectra of oxidized and reduced cells, failed to reveal either marked differences in the Vmax of the O-2-generating enzyme or correlations between O-2 secretion and cytochrome b559 content among 5 macrophage populations whose H2O2 secretion ranged from 0 to 365 nmol/90 min/mg of protein. In contrast, the Km of the oxidase for NADPH varied markedly and inversely with the capacity of the intact cells to secrete O-2 or H2O2: J774G8 histiocytoma cells, 1.43 mM; resident macrophages, 0.41 mM; proteose peptone-elicited macrophages, 0.20 mM; casein-activated macrophages, 0.05 mM; NaIO4-activated macrophages, 0.05 mM; and granulocytes, 0.04 mM. These results suggest that macrophage activation, a process that enhances oxygen-dependent antitumor and antimicrobial functions, may equip the cell to secrete increased amounts of reactive oxygen intermediates largely by increasing the affinity of the oxidase for NADPH.

Phagocyte NADPH oxidase, dormant in resting cells, is activated upon cell stimulation to produce superoxide anion, a precursor of microbicidal oxidants. Active NADPH oxidase is found on the membrane as an enzyme complex, composed of membrane-integrated cytochrome b558 (gp91phox and p22phox subunits) and two cytosolic factors (p47phox and p67phox), each of the latter containing two src homology 3 (SH3) domains. Recently, we radioactively identified a third cytosolic factor, p40phox, as a molecule that associates with p67phox in human neutrophils. Although it has been found that this p40phox protein is defective in patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) who lack p67phox, evidence to functionally relate it to the NADPH oxidase system has hitherto been lacking. In this study, we raised separate antibodies against both the COOH- and NH2-terminal polypeptides of p40phox as well as against the COOH-terminal polypeptide of p67phox to examine the mode of interaction between p40phox and p67phox in a complex. The antibody against the COOH terminus of p67phox was able to communoprecipitate p40phox in conjunction with p67phox itself as was expected. Very interestingly, however, the antibody against the COOH terminus of p40phox completely dissociated the p67phox molecule from the p40phox-p67phox complex unit without any detectable coimmunoprecipitation of p67phox, despite their tight association, whereas that against the NH2 terminus of p40phox had absolutely no dissociation effect. Similar results were found regarding their effects on the O2-generating ability of cytosol in a cell-free activation system, i.e., inhibition was noted with the COOH terminus antibody but not with that for the NH2 terminus of p40phox. However, this dissociation did not affect the translocation of the cytosolic components including p47phox to the membrane. Once the NADPH oxidase was activated, the antibody for the COOH terminus did not show any inhibitory effect on catalysis by the activated enzyme. The stimulators of NADPH oxidase, MA and SDS, did not dissociate the p40phox-p67phox complex. These results provide the first demonstration that p40phox is practically involved in the activation of NADPH oxidase through the association of its COOH-terminal, but not its NH2-terminal, with p67phox.

Diverse particulate and soluble stimuli trigger two metabolic bursts in mouse peritoneal macrophages important in the inflammatory and/or cytotoxic actions of the cells: release, oxygenation, and further metabolism of arachidonic acid from endogenous phospholipids and reduction of molecular oxygen to reactive intermediates. We tested the hypothesis that the release of arachidonic acid or formation of its metabolites are obligatory intermediate steps in triggering the NADPH oxidase that reduces O2 to O-2. With phorbol diesters as stimuli, the following inhibitors of phospholipase A2 and lipoxygenase suppressed release of H2O2 at nontoxic concentrations (microM range): p-bromophenacyl bromide, quinacrine, eicosatetraenoic acid, nordihydroguaiaretic acid, and phenidone. Indomethacin and acetylsalicylic acid were ineffective. However, the suppressive effect of the first five agents on H2O2 release could be attributed to their suppression of macrophage glucose uptake at the same concentrations, a previously unrecognized effect of these compounds. Further, concanavalin A, wheat germ agglutinin, and thrombin each stimulated abundant arachidonate release without H2O2 release. Finally, noncytolytic concentrations of cycloheximide and/or emetine suppressed arachidonate release without affecting H2O2 secretion triggered either by phorbol esters or zymosan. Release and metabolism of arachidonic acid and secretion of reactive oxygen intermediates appear to be two frequently coincident but mutually independent metabolic pathways in the mouse peritoneal macrophage.

The NADPH-binding site of the respiratory burst oxidase system of neutrophils has been proposed to be either at a cytosolic component or at the beta-subunit of cytochrome b558. In this study, affinity labeling of resting and stimulated membranes, the latter having been assembled by all of the oxidase components from both membrane and cytosol, was carried out using [32P]NADPH dialdehyde (oNADPH). Stimulation of human neutrophils with PMA greatly increased O2(-)-generating activity and caused considerable translocation of the cytosolic components p47phox and p67phox. Nevertheless, PMA stimulation did not produce a labeled band which included positions at 47, 67, and approximately 32 kD. The most intense band reflected a molecular mass of 84 kD regardless of the state of activation, but a labeled band was never found near the beta-subunit (91 kD) of cytochrome b558. This 84-kD protein was further confirmed in neutrophils of 14 patients with gp91phox-deficient X-linked chronic granulomatous disease. These results indicate that the NADPH-binding component is not recruited from the cytosol, and also, that a membranous redox component besides cytochrome b558 must be involved in the NADPH oxidase system.