Search

The role of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) as effector cells in tumor lysis was investigated in vitro. PMNs were obtained from the peritoneal cavity of C3H/He Mice injected ip with 2 ml of 12% casein sodium. These PMNs could lyse murine MM46 tumor cells in the presence of the plant lectin, wheat germ agglutinin (lectin-dependent PMN-mediated cytolysis). PMNs alone did not cause cytolysis. PMNs obtained 6 hr after casein injection were effective against tumor target cells but those obtained 3 hr after the injection were not. Other lectins, such as concanavalin A, phytohemagglutinin, pokeweed mitogen, soybean agglutinin, Ulex europaeus agglutinin, Lens culinaris hemagglutinin and Bauhinia purpurea agglutinin, did not cooperate with PMNs in tumor lysis. Antitumor antibody was another mediator that induced tumor lysis in cooperation with PMNs (antibody-dependent PMN-mediated cytolysis). These results indicate that PMNs can lyse tumor cells in the presence of appropriate mediators.

Nine animal lectins, i.e., Sarcophaga peregrina agglutinin, Balanus roseus agglutinin, Aplysia kurodai agglutinin, Balanus balanoides agglutinin, Tetraclita squamosa japonica agglutinin, Misgurnus anguillicaudatus lectin, Asterina pectinifera agglutinin, Helix aspersa agglutinin and Helix pomatia agglutinin, were tested for induction of cytolysis mediated by polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Among them, S. peregrina agglutinin and B. roseus agglutinin lysed murine target cells in co-operation with polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) from the peritoneal cavity of mice. PMNs can lyse various tumor cells in the presence of S. peregrina agglutinin, although normal spleen cells were also lysed. This lectin-dependent cytolysis by PMNs was inhibited by galactose, a sugar which is specifically recognized by S. peregrina agglutinin. S. peregrina and B. roseus agglutinins were inhibitory to in vivo development of MM46 tumor cells. These results suggest that PMNs can lyse various target cells in the presence of appropriate animal lectins and that some animal lectins participate in tumor rejection.

Guinea pig polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) were briefly activated with soluble stimulators such as sodium myristate (SM) or phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) and then disrupted by the nitrogen cavitation method to study the subcellular distribution of NADPH oxidase, which is responsible for O2 - generation. Fc-receptor and 5'-nucleotidase activities were measured as plasma membrane markers. 1) The homogenate was first fractionated by differential centrifugation. The O2- -generating activity of PMN activated either by SM or PMA was recovered in a 2 X 10(4) g pellet which contained a large amount of granules and about 50% of the plasma membrane markers, but not in a 1 X 10(5) g pellet which consisted of plasma membranes and few granules. 2) Further separation of the 2 X 10(4) g pellet from PMA-activated PMN was attempted by an iso-osmotic Percoll density gradient centrifugation. The O2- -generating activity was recovered in light fractions in which plasma membrane markers were found, but neither in specific nor in azurophil granules. The 1 X 10(5) g pellet showed a similar distribution of the plasma membrane markers to that of the 2 X 10(4) g pellet, except that the peak of the O2- -generating activity was much smaller on an identical density gradient. The results showed that NADPH oxidase is located in the plasma membranes precipitated by centrifugation at 2 X 10(4) X g but not in the ones precipitated at 1 X 10(5) X g. The results suggest that the plasma membrane of activated PMN has a mosaic distribution of NADPH oxidase.

A 67-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with abdominal distension due to hepatosplenomegaly. The peripheral blood revealed Hb content 6.5 g/dl, platelet count 4.7 x 10(4)/microliter, and WBC count 105.8 x 10(3)/microliter with 88% of mature neutrophils. The neutrophil alkaline phosphatase score was 421. Bone marrow aspiration revealed hypercellularity with increased megakaryocytes and myeloid hyperplasia. 46, XY, del 20(q 11) without Philadelphia chromosome was identified by cytogenetic study. The patient was diagnosed as having chronic neutrophilic leukemia and was successfully treated with busulfan, but he died of atypical mycobacteriosis about 20 months later. Analysis of neutrophil function demonstrated diminution of deformability, random mobility, and chemotaxis, but almost normal phagocytosis and bactericidal capacity. Southern analysis showed no rearrangements of breakpoint cluster region (bcr) gene and immunoglobulin heavy chain gene.

Macrophage activation--enhanced capacity to kill, in a cell that otherwise mostly scavenges--is essential for host survival from infection and contributes to containment of tumours. Both microbes and tumour cells, therefore, may be under pressure to inhibit or reverse the activation of macrophages. This reasoning led to the demonstration of macrophage deactivating factors from both microbes and tumour cells. In some circumstances the host itself probably requires the ability to deactivate macrophages. Macrophages are essential to the healing of wounds and repair of tissues damaged by inflammation. Yet the cytotoxic products of the activated macrophages can damage endothelium, fibroblasts, smooth muscle and parenchymal cells (reviewed in ref. 6). Thus, after an inflammatory site has been sterilized, the impact of macrophage activation on the host might shift from benefit to detriment. These concepts led us to search for macrophage deactivating effects among polypeptide growth factors that regulate angiogenesis, fibrogenesis and other aspects of tissue repair. Among 11 such factors, two proteins that are 71% similar proved to be potent macrophage deactivators: these are transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) and TGF-beta 2.

The mechanisms of tumor lysis by polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) were investigated. In antibody-dependent PMN-mediated cytolysis (ADPC), sensitized tumor cells were specifically lysed via Fc receptors on PMNs. On the other hand, lectin-dependent PMN-mediated cytolysis (LDPC) caused nonspecific lysis of several murine tumors after recognition of carbohydrate moieties on the cell membrane of both PMNs and tumor cells. Both ADPC and LDPC depended on glycolysis, and cytotoxicity was mediated by reactive oxygen species; LDPC was dependent on superoxide and ADPC on the myeloperoxidase system. The participation of reactive oxygen species in PMN cytotoxicity was also demonstrated by pharmacological triggering with phorbol myristate acetate. These results indicate that reactive oxygen species have an important role In tumor killing by PMNs and that ADPC and LDPC have partly different cytolytic processes as well as different recognition steps.

We are attempting to identify cytokines that regulate macrophage secretion of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) and to analyse the biochemical basis of their effects. In both humans and mice, interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) appears to be the chief factor secreted by clonally unselected lymphocytes that enhances macrophage oxidative metabolism and antiprotozoal activity. In vivo administration of recombinant IFN-gamma enhances the ROI secretory capacity of monocytes in humans, and the secretion of ROI and killing of protozoa by peritoneal macrophages in mice. A protein secreted by murine tumours and certain non-malignant cells exerts opposing effects. This macrophage deactivation factor (MDF) both blocks the induction of activation by IFN-gamma and reverses pre-existent activation. MDF action is non-toxic and selective, suppressing the secretion of ROI, killing of intracellular protozoa, and expression of Ia antigen, without inhibiting secretion of several other products, or synthesis of protein, ingestion of particles or adherence to culture vessels. The suppressive effect of MDF is reversed over several days after its removal. This reversal is hastened by IFN-gamma. Profound suppression of oxidative metabolism accompanies the differentiation of murine monocytes into Kupffer cells. The capacity of Kupffer cells to secrete ROI and kill intracellular protozoa remains deficient even after exposure to IFN-gamma. Thus, four states of macrophage activation can provisionally be discerned: the transition of mouse peritoneal macrophages from the non-activated to the activated state is accompanied by a ninefold increase in affinity of the superoxide-producing enzyme for NADPH, without a marked increase in cellular Vmax or content of cytochrome b559. The MDF-induced transition of mouse peritoneal macrophages from the activated to the deactivated state is accompanied by both an increase in Km and a decrease in apparent V max of the oxidase. There are no changes in the phorbol myristate acetate receptor number or affinity, glucose transport, NADPH levels, cytochrome b559 content, catalase (EC 1.11.1.6) GSH, GSH peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.9), GSH reductase (EC 1.6.4.2) or myeloperoxidase, consistent with the suppressed ROI secretory capacity and antiprotozoal activity of these cells. The Kupffer cell, whose non-responsiveness to IFN-gamma may mark it as inactivated, appears to lack detectable NADPH oxidase activity, despite the probable presence of cytochrome b559, and in this regard differs from both non-activated and deactivated macrophages.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)