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Interleukin-8 (IL-8) and closely related Glu-Leu-Arg (ELR) containing CXC chemokines, including growth-related oncogene (GRO)alpha, GRObeta, GROgamma, and epithelial cell-derived neutrophil-activating peptide-78 (ENA-78), are potent neutrophil chemotactic and activating peptides, which are proposed to be major mediators of inflammation. IL-8 activates neutrophils by binding to two distinct seven-transmembrane (7-TMR) G-protein coupled receptors CXCR1 (IL-8RA) and CXCR2 (IL-8RB), while GROalpha, GRObeta, GROgamma, and ENA-78 bind to and activate only CXCR2. A chemical lead, which selectively inhibited CXCR2 was discovered by high throughput screening and chemically optimized. SB 225002 (N-(2-hydroxy-4-nitrophenyl)-N'-(2-bromophenyl)urea) is the first reported potent and selective non-peptide inhibitor of a chemokine receptor. It is an antagonist of 125I-IL-8 binding to CXCR2 with an IC50 = 22 nM. SB 225002 showed >150-fold selectivity over CXCR1 and four other 7-TMRs tested. In vitro, SB 225002 potently inhibited human and rabbit neutrophil chemotaxis induced by both IL-8 and GROalpha. In vivo, SB 225002 selectively blocked IL-8-induced neutrophil margination in rabbits. The present findings suggest that CXCR2 is responsible for neutrophil chemotaxis and margination induced by IL-8. This selective antagonist will be a useful tool compound to define the role of CXCR2 in inflammatory diseases where neutrophils play a major role.

The cDNAs encoding the human (hC3aR) and mouse C3a receptors (mC3aR) were functionally expressed in RBL-2H3 cells. A calcium mobilization assay was utilized to assess the biologic activity of human anaphylatoxins, and C3a synthetic peptide agonists on hC3aR and mC3aR cells and this activity was compared to the activity of the anaphylatoxins on human neutrophils. Both hC3aR and mC3aR cells responded in a concentration-dependent manner with a robust calcium mobilization response to C3a with 50% effective concentrations (EC50s) of 0.24 nM and 1.3 nM, respectively. The response obtained with hC3aR cells was similar to the response elicited by C3a on human neutrophils (EC50 0.77 nM). The potency of a C3a analogue synthetic peptide (WWGKKYRASKLGLAR), derived from the fifteen carboxy-terminal residues (63-77) of C3a, relative to C3a, in stimulating calcium mobilization differed on cells expressing the human vs. mouse receptors. While the peptide was approximately 10 fold less active than C3a in stimulating calcium mobilization on cells expressing the hC3aR (EC50 2.0 nM), the peptide was essentially equipotent to the native ligand when tested on cells expressing the mC3aR. Data obtained with C4a, purified from activated serum, were difficult to interpret due to possible trace contamination of the C4a with C5a. Subsequently, an alternative C4a isolation scheme was utilized, via cleavage in vitro of purified C4. Concentrations of this latter C4a preparation, of up to 3.3 microM, had no effect on calcium mobilization in human neutrophils or in cells stably expressing the cloned C3a receptors, an indication that C4a does not interact with the C3a receptor.

Scalaradial, a marine natural product with anti-inflammatory activity, has been shown to be a selective inhibitor of 14 kDa type II phospholipase A2(PLA2). We have examined the inhibition by scalaradial (0.1 nM to 10 microM) of neutrophil function (degranulation) in response to receptor-mediated activation [N-formyl-L-methionyl-L-leucyl-L-phenylalanine (fMLP), 30 nM; leuokotriene B4 (LTB4), 100 nM; platelet-activating factor (PAF), 100 nM] and non-receptor-mediated stimuli [A23187 (1 microM) and thapsigargin (100 nM)]. Furthermore, we evaluated the ability of scalaradial to inhibit the increase in intracellular Ca2+ in response to fMLP, LTB4, A23187, and thapsigargin as well as its ability to prevent either fMLP- or LTB4-mediated elevation in inositol phosphate production (InsP). Scalaradial was a potent inhibitor of both receptor- (IC50 = 50-200 nM) and non-receptor- (IC50 = 40-900 nM) mediated degranulation. Although scalaradial inhibited the mobilization of Ca2+ induced by fMLP, LTB4, and PAF, it did not affect the maximal Ca2+ levels attained with A23187 or thapsigargin. Neutrophil-binding studies with [3H]fMLP and [3H]LTB4 would suggest that the effect of scalaradial on agonist-induced degranulation and increase in intracellular Ca2+ was not at the receptor level because 50-fold higher concentrations were required to have a significant effect on the binding of these agonists. To determine if scalaradial affected phosphatidylinositol selective phospholipase C (PI-PLC) activity, assays were conducted to monitor fMLP- and LTB4-induced formation of InsPs using myo-[3H]inositol-labeled U-937 cells. In these cells, 2.5 to 9-fold higher concentrations of scalaradial were required to inhibit PI-PLC activity than to inhibit agonist-induced degranulation of neutrophils, suggesting that the effects of scalaradial on Ca2+ and degranulation are not the sole result of blocking receptor activation of PI-PLC. Results obtained with receptor-mediated stimuli suggest that scalaradial may have direct effects on Ca2+ channels and InsP turnover, but inhibition of intracellular Ca2+ levels was not required for scalaradial to block degranulation since scalaradial was capable of inhibiting degranulation produced by either A23187 or thapsigargin, without changing the maximal Ca2+ levels obtained with these two stimuli. These results demonstrate that scalaradial can inhibit degranulation in the presence of micromolar intracellular Ca2+ concentration, thus supporting the hypothesis that a 14 kDa PLA2 may be important in the regulation of neutrophil degranulation.

We have explored the role of phospholipase D (PLD) activation in leukotriene B4 (LTB4)-induced Ca2+ mobilization and degranulation of human neutrophils. Stimulation of [3H]alkyl-acyl-phosphatidylcholine-labeled neutrophils with LTB4 resulted in a rapid accumulation of [3H]alkyl-phosphatidic acid (PA) as well as a somewhat slower accumulation of [3H]alkyl-diglyceride (DG). In the presence of ethanol, PLD catalyzed a transphosphatidylation reaction in which LTB4 increased [3H]alkyl-phosphatidylethanol formation and simultaneously decreased LTB4-induced PA and DG accumulation. This pattern of lipid metabolism is consistent with the conclusion that LTB4 stimulates PLD activity in human neutrophils. Additional studies in which the extracellular and intracellular concentrations of Ca2+ were varied indicated that maximal LTB4-induced PLD activation was dependent upon Ca2+ and potentiated by inhibitors of protein kinase C. The time-course and concentration-response curves for LTB4-induced PLD activation were different from those for LTB4-induced Ca2+ mobilization, as measured by fura-2 fluorescence. On the other hand, the concentration-response curve for LTB4-induced PLD activation was similar to that for LTB4-induced degranulation. Preincubation of the cells with ethanol inhibited LTB4-induced PA and DG accumulation, as well as degranulation, suggesting that one or both of these metabolites were important for this response. In contrast, ethanol had no effect on LTB4-induced Ca2+ mobilization. Propranolol, an inhibitor of phosphatidate phosphohydrolase, abolished DG accumulation in response to LTB4 but had no effect on degranulation, suggesting that PA is more important than DG as a mediator of degranulation. Taken collectively, these data indicate that LTB4-induced activation of PLD in human neutrophils is mediated by a Ca(2+)-dependent mechanism, but not by protein kinase C. In addition, PLD activation in these cells may induce degranulation, but not Ca2+ mobilization.

Background and Purpose: Neutrophils are critically involved with ischemia and reperfusion injury in many tissues but have not been studied under conditions of reperfusion after focal cerebral ischemia. The present studies were conducted to confirm our previous observations quantifying neutrophils in rat permanent focal stroke using a myeloperoxidase activity assay and to extend them to transient ischemia with reperfusion. In addition, leukotriene B4 receptor binding in ischemic tissue was evaluated as a potential marker for inflammatory cell infiltration., Methods: Histological, enzymatic, and receptor binding techniques were used to evaluate neutrophil infiltration and receptor binding in infarcted cortical tissue 24 hours after permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (n = 25) or temporary occlusion for 80 (n = 12) or 160 (n = 22) minutes followed by reperfusion for 24 hours in spontaneously hypertensive rats., Results: Sham surgery (n = 26) produced no changes in any parameter measured. After permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion, neutrophil accumulation was observed histologically, but the infiltration was moderate and typically within and adjacent to blood vessels bordering the infarcted cortex. After temporary middle cerebral artery occlusion with reperfusion, marked neutrophil infiltration was observed throughout the infarcted cortex. Myeloperoxidase activity was increased (p less than 0.05) after permanent occlusion and to a greater extent after temporary occlusion with reperfusion. Myeloperoxidase activity (units per gram wet weight) in ischemic cortex was increased over that in nonischemic (control) cortex 32.2-fold, 54.6-fold, and 92.1-fold for permanent occlusion and 80 and 160 minutes of temporary occlusion with reperfusion, respectively (p less than 0.05). Sham surgery produced no changes in myeloperoxidase activity. Leukotriene B4 receptor binding also was increased (p less than 0.05) after focal ischemia and paralleled the increases in myeloperoxidase activity. Ischemic cortex-specific receptor binding (femtomoles per milligram protein) was 3.87 +/- 0.63 in sham-operated rats and 4.57 +/- 0.98, 8.98 +/- 1.11, and 11.12 +/- 1.63 for rats subjected to permanent occlusion and 80 and 160 minutes of temporary occlusion with reperfusion, respectively (all p less than 0.05 different from sham-operated). Cortical myeloperoxidase activity was significantly correlated with the degree of cortical leukotriene B4 receptor binding (r = 0.66 and r = 0.79 in two different studies, p less than 0.01)., Conclusion: These data indicate that neutrophils are involved in focal ischemia and that there is a dramatic accumulation of neutrophils in infarcted tissue during reperfusion that can be quantified using the myeloperoxidase activity assay. Leukotriene B4 receptor binding increases in infarcted tissue in a parallel manner, which suggests that the increased leukotriene B4 binding is to receptors located on the accumulating neutrophils.

Two different techniques were utilized to identify the infiltration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) into cerebral tissue following focal ischemia: histologic analysis and a modified myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity assay. Twenty-four hours after producing permanent cortical ischemia by occluding and severing the middle cerebral artery of male spontaneously hypertensive rats, contralateral hemiparalysis and sensory-motor deficits were observed due to cerebral infarction of the frontal and parietal cortex. In hematoxylin-and-eosin-stained histologic sections, PMN, predominantly neutrophils, were identified at various stages of diapedesis from deep cerebral and meningeal vessels at the periphery of the infarct, into brain parenchyma. When MPO activity in normal brain tissue was studied initially, it could not be demonstrated in normal tissues extracted from non-washed homogenates. However, if tissue was homogenized in phosphate buffer (i.e., washed), MPO activity was expressed upon extraction. Utilizing this modified assay, MPO activity was significantly increased only in the infarcted cortex compared to other normal areas of the brain. This was observed in non-perfused animals and after perfusion with isotonic saline to remove blood constituents from the vasculature prior to brain removal. The increased PMN infiltration and MPO activity were not observed in forebrain tissue of sham-operated control rats. Also, MPO activity was not increased in the ischemic cortex of MCAO rats perfused immediately after middle cerebral artery occlusion, indicating that blood was not trapped in the ischemic area. By using a leukocyte histochemical staining assay, activity of peroxidases was identified within vascular-adhering/infiltrating PMN in the infarcted cortex 24 hr after focal ischemia. An evaluation of several blood components indicated that increased MPO activity was selective for PMN. The observed increase of approximately 0.3 U MPO/g wet weight ischemic tissue vs. nonischemic cerebral tissues probably reflects the increased vascular adherance/infiltration of approximately 600,000 PMN/g wet weight infarcted cortex 24 hr after focal ischemia. This combined biochemical and histological study strongly suggests that PMN adhere within blood vessels and infiltrate into brain tissue injured by focal ischemia and that the associated inflammatory response might contribute to delayed progressive tissue damage in focal stroke. This modified MPO assay is a useful, quantitative index of PMN that can be utilized to elucidate the potential deleterious consequences of neutrophils infiltrating into the central nervous system after cerebral ischemia, trauma, or other pro-inflammatory stimuli.