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Dibutyryl cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) produces phosphodiesterase induction, growth arrest, and cytolysis in S49 lymphoma cells. The striking parallelism between protein kinase activity that is dependent on cytosol cyclic AMP and cellular responses to dibutyryl cyclic AMP in wild-type cells and three classes of clones resistant to cyclic AMP indicates that protein kinase mediates cyclic AMP regulation of growth and enzyme induction in S49 cells.

Isoproterenol, a stimulator of adenylate cyclase, was used to select a stable variant clone of mouse lymphosarcoma cells deficient in the enzyme. The inability of four different stimulators to activate cyclic adenosine monophosphate synthesis in the variant, in contrast to its wild-type parent, implies that in normal cells one type of adenylate cyclase molecular can respond to different activators.

In in vitro models of hypersensitivity, beta adrenergic drugs inhibit the antigen-induced release of histamine and other mediators from mast cells and basophils. Epinephrine, an agent with both beta and alpha adrenergic properties, is clinically useful for treating immediate hypersensitivity reactions. We examined the effects of intravenously administered adrenergic drugs on cutaneous wheal-and-flare reactions to antigens and histamine in 7 normal men. Both epinephrine and isoproterenol, a beta agonist, inhibited skin reactions produced by antigen or histamine. Phenylephrine, an alpha adrenergic agonist, produced no effect. These results suggest that epinephrine's inhibition of cutaneous immediate hypersensitivity in vivo is mediated by beta, rather than alpha, receptors. This inhibitory effect in vivo is probably not mediated solely in preventing allergic release of inflammatory mediators since the skin reactions to histamine were inhibited as well.

N-6,O-2'-dibutyryl adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate kills cultured mouse lymphosarcoma cells, but not resistant mutants derived by a single-step clonal selection. Resistant clones lack the cyclic AMP binding proteins present in wild type, cyclic AMP sensitive clones. Both endogenous cyclic AMP, accumulated in response to isoproterenol or cholera toxin, and exogenous dibutyryl cyclic AMP induce cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase, slow growth, and eventually kill wild type cells. In the resistant mutants, however, the endogenous and exogenous cyclic nucleotides appear to be completely inactive. These results indicate that an intracellular receptor for cyclic AMP, previously shown to be associated with a cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase, mediates cyclic AMP's regulation of growth and phosphodiesterase synthesis.

Dibutyryl cyclic AMP and theophylline kill S49.1 mouse lymphoma tissue culture cells. When cells are grown in soft agar with these drugs, the few clones that survive are resistant to cytolysis. The rate of mutation to resistance is 1-3 times 10-7/cell/generation in both diploid and tetraploid cells. The incidence of mutants is increased by treatment with a chemical mutagen, ICR 191. The mutation is consistently associated with greatly reduced or absent cytoplasmic cyclic AMP binding protein. These results suggest that a somatic mutation leads to a defect of the protein kinase regulatory subunit and that activity of this kinase is required for induction of cell death by cyclic AMP.

A mouse lymphoma tissue culture line, S49, is killed by isoproterenol, choleratoxin, or prostaglandin E1, inducers of cyclic AMP (cAMP) in these cells, or by the analog dibutyryl (db) cAMP. Cell death follows arrest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Mutant subclones obtained by growing S49 with dbcAMP were resistant to killing. They were deficient in cAMP-dependent protein kinase. These results are discussed in relation to the possible physiologic role of cAMP-induced cell death in T-cell differentiation.

Prostaglandins E(1) and E(2) (PGE(1) and PGE(2)) stimulate adenyl cyclase activity in broken cell preparations of normal human leukocytes, whereas prostaglandin F(1a) produces no effect. PGE(1) and PGE(2) also cause increased accumulation of cyclic 3',5'-adenosine monophosphate-(3)H ((3)H-labeled AMP) in intact leukocytes which have been preincubated with adenine-(3)H in vitro. Theophylline inhibits leukocyte phosphodiesterase activity and potentiates the stimulatory effect of the prostaglandins on intracellular accumulation of cyclic 3',5'-AMP-(3)H. The ability of human granulocytes in vitro to kill Candida albicans was consistently inhibited by PGE(1) and theophylline. This effect was reproduced by dibutyryl cyclic 3',5'-AMP, a lipid-soluble analogue of the endogenous nucleotide. The inhibition of candidacidal activity could not be accounted for by drug effects on phagocytosis, oxygen consumption, or hexose monophosphate shunt activity. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that increased intracellular concentrations of cyclic 3',5'-AMP impair the granulocyte's ability to kill C. albicans, but the precise mechanism of inhibition has not yet been defined.

Extracellular histamine stimulates accumulation of adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate in human leukocytes and prevents antigenic release of histamine from cells of allergic donors. Both effects occur at histamine concentrations that can be achieved by antigenic release of the amine in vitro.

Spleen cells from mice immunized with sheep red cells were separated by differential adherence to insolubilized histamine, catecholamines, and prostaglandins. The hormones were insolubilized by linking them to Sepharose beads through a protein carrier. We measured hemolytic plaque formation (per million splenic leukocytes) of cells which passed through columns of hormone-carrier-Sepharose beads (i.e., those cells that failed to bind). As compared with control (no column) cells, the number of plaque-forming cells was substantially reduced by passage through histamine, epinephrine, isoproterenol, and prostaglandin-E(2) columns. Plaque-forming cells were not significantly reduced by passage through carrier Sepharose (another control) or norepinephrine- and prostaglandin-F(2alpha)-carrier Sepharose columns. Thus, the ability of an insolubilized hormone preparation to subtract plaque-forming cells roughly correlated with the presence of pharmacologic receptors for the corresponding free hormones, as judged by stimulation of cyclic AMP accumulation in the same cells, reported previously. Both 19S and 7S plaque-forming cells were subtracted by columns prepared from pharmacologically active hormones, but none of the insolubilized hormones stimulated accumulation of intracellular cyclic AMP. The cell membrane phenomenon that allows adherence to a given hormone-carrier-bead column may be identical with the cell receptor.

Receptors for small endogenous hormones on human leukocytes were studied by insolubilizing the hormones and incubating them with the cells. Histamine, norepinephrine, and prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) were conjugated to either of two types of carrier: (bovine or rabbit) serum albumin or a random copolymer of DL-alanine and L-tyrosine. The conjugates were linked to agarose beads (Sepharose) and the resultant drug-conjugate-beads were incubated with leukocytes. Norepinephrine (when linked to its carrier via glutaraldehyde) and histamine preparations bound the majority of leukocytes. The binding appeared to be specific for the hormones tested. For example, the binding by histamine-rabbit serum albumin-Sepharose was prevented or reversed by high concentrations of histamine and histamine antagonists, but not by catecholamines or their pharmacologic antagonists. Similarly, binding of cells to the norepinephrine conjugate was inhibited by some catecholamines and propranolol, but not by histamine or histamine antagonists. Conjugates of norepinephrine linked via carbodiimide did not bind cells. The protein or copolymer carriers did not contribute to binding per se. The hormone-protein-conjugates bound more cells than the hormone-polymer conjugates. The former (unlike the free amines) failed to stimulate accumulation of cyclic AMP in leukocytes. The norepinephrine linked to polymer via glutaraldehyde, however, did stimulate leukocyte cyclic AMP accumulation, possibly because of the flexibility of the polymer. Columns of the various Sepharoses were used to determine the distribution of receptors to each hormone in mixed leukocyte populations. The majority of cells appeared to have receptors for both histamine and norepinephrine (bound through glutaraldehyde). Receptors to prostaglandins may have been detected by the column procedure, but their distribution could not be quantitated. The approach described provides a means to separate leukocytes on the basis of what are likely to be preformed receptors to small endogenous hormones, and to study the physiologic importance and function of the receptors.

Cholera enterotoxin caused a delayed accumulation of adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cyclic AMP) in human leukocytes, associated with an increase in leukocyte adenyl cyclase activity. The action of cholera enterotoxin contrasted with that of other agents which stimulate adenyl cyclase: (a) the effects of the toxin were delayed in onset, while prostaglandin-E(1) (PGE(1)) and isoproterenol acted rapidly; (b) removal of the soluble toxin from the extracellular medium did not abolish its effects on cyclic AMP and inhibition of antigenic histamine release, while removal of PGE(1) did prevent its effects; (c) PGE(1), but not cholera enterotoxin, stimulated adenyl cyclase activity when added directly to broken cell preparations. Binding of the toxin to leukocytes was rapid and irreversible, and was followed by a gradual increase in cyclic AMP which was not prevented by cycloheximide. Cholera enterotoxin caused accumulation of cyclic AMP in purified human neutrophils as well as mono-nuclear cells, but did not prevent the extrusion of lysosomal hydrolases from phagocytic cells. The toxin only slightly inhibited the ability of human neutrophils to kill Candida albicans. Thus these results with the toxin cast doubt on previous proposals that cyclic AMP regulates these two functions of neutrophils. The unique action of cholera enterotoxin on cyclic AMP production provides a potentially useful pharmacologic tool, in addition to methylxanthines and dibutyryl cyclic AMP, for testing hypotheses relating cyclic AMP to altered function of leukocytes and, perhaps, of other mammalian cells.

Histamine, beta-adrenergic amines, and prostaglandins inhibited hemolytic plaque formation by splenic leukocytes from immunized mice. The same agents had previously been shown to prevent both the IgE-mediated release of histamine from human basophils and the immunologically specific cytolytic activity of murine lymphocytes, through stimulation of the production of cyclic AMP in leukocytes. We therefore tested the hypothesis that cyclic AMP might mediate an inhibitory effect of these drugs by comparing the ability of these agents to inhibit plaque formation with their effects on cyclic AMP accumulation in leukocytes. In splenic cells from three mouse strains, the dose-dependent effects of these agents of cyclic AMP correlated with their inhibition of plaque formation. Beta- but not alpha-adrenergic agonists were effective in both systems, and the effects of isoproterenol were inhibited by propranolol. Histamine was approximately equipotent with isoproterenol in both systems. Two prostaglandins (E(1) and E(2)) were effective in both systems, but prostaglandin F(2alpha) was not. Dibutyryl cyclic AMP, a lipid-soluble analog of the endogenous nucleotide, inhibited plaque formation by cells of all three strains. Theophylline, an inhibitor of cyclic AMP degradation, inhibited plaque formation slightly, but potentiated the effects of histamine, isoproterenol, and the prostaglandins on both cyclic AMP accumulation and plaque formation. Finally, cholera enterotoxin, a potent activator of adenyl cyclase, produced a delayed inhibition of plaque formation and a parallel increase in leukocyte cyclic AMP content; both effects of the toxin were blocked by canine antitoxin. These results suggest that leukocyte cyclic AMP may act as a "second messenger" to suppress plaque formation in vitro. The inhibitory effects of hormones and cyclic AMP on plaque formation are strikingly similar to their effects on in vitro models of immediate and cell-mediated hypersensitivity. The physiologic significance of these findings is not yet known.

Histamine insolubilized by chemical linkage via a protein or polypeptide carrier to Sepharose beads cannot penetrate cells. Even so, the resultant histamine-coated Sepharose binds leukocytes selectively. Despite the low molecular weight of histaminie, the binding is via preformed cell membrane receptors and can be specifically and competitively blocked or reversed by antihistamines.