The Journal of immunology : official journal of the American Association of Immunologists
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LPS tolerance is characterized by a diminished monocytic synthesis of TNF-alpha and, interestingly, IL-10 after LPS restimulation. We wondered whether granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), IL-12, and IFN-gamma can prevent or reverse this down-regulation of TNF-alpha and IL-10 production. The LPS-induced TNF-alpha amounts in desensitized PBMC treated with GM-CSF, IFN-gamma, or IL-12 and in naive, non-cytokine-primed cultures were similar, while much more TNF-alpha was induced in cytokine-primed naive cells. ⋯ IFN-gamma and GM-CSF prevented and reversed down-regulation of TNF-alpha and IL-10 synthesis also in the model of IL-10/TGF-beta1-induced LPS hyporesponsiveness, while IL-12 was ineffective because of its obvious inability to induce IFN-gamma. In summary, after LPS desensitization/hyporesponsiveness, IFN-gamma and GM-CSF tended to normalize pro- and anti-inflammatory monocytic behavior. Our results suggest that during LPS desensitization/hyporesponsiveness, monocytes acquire a hitherto unknown functional state with an altered reaction to biologic response modifiers.
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The influence of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and IFN-gamma on the restoration of impaired TNF-alpha release in LPS-desensitized mice or their refractory macrophages was investigated. Mice pretreated with GM-CSF or IFN-gamma (50 microg/kg i.v.) and injected with 3 mg/kg LPS i.p. displayed increased plasma TNF-alpha levels compared with LPS controls. IL-10 was marginally up-regulated by GM-CSF but abrogated by IFN-gamma pretreatment. ⋯ Cells from LPS-tolerant mice showed a diminished responsiveness to LPS. However, when exposed to GM-CSF or IFN-gamma ex vivo, their TNF-alpha response to LPS was partially restored. These findings characterize GM-CSF and IFN-gamma as potent enhancers of LPS-induced TNF-alpha production in normal as well as in experimentally immunocompromised mice and provide the rationale for further experiments to explore the pharmacologic use of these cytokines for restoration of immunocompetence in sepsis-associated immunosuppression.
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The perforin-facilitated entry of granzymes in target cells is a major mechanism used by CTL to induce cell death. It has been reported that granzyme B can cleave and activate the apoptotic cysteine protease p32 (CPP32)/Yama and its homologues in vitro. However, the mechanism for granzyme-based cytolysis exerted by intact CTL remains unclear. ⋯ On the other hand, Fas-based cytolysis exerted by the same CTL clones on Fas-transfected L1210 cells (L1210Fas) was inhibited completely by Ac-DEVD-CHO, irrespective of the incubation time. These results suggest that granzyme B- and Fas-based cytotoxicity exerted by CTL clones converge at the level of CPP32-like protease activation, while granzyme A acts via a different, still undefined, pathway. We also demonstrate that perforin/granzyme-based cytolysis occurs without increase in the cellular ceramide content, ruling out the contribution of the sphingomyelinase pathway to this mechanism of cell death.