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Michelino Di Rosa, Maria Musumeci, Anna Scuto, Salvatore Musumeci, Lucia Malaguarnera
Effect of interferon-?, interleukin-10, lipopolysaccharide and tumor necrosis factor-? on chitotriosidase synthesis in human macrophages
Keywords: chitotriosidase, cytokines, human monocyte/macrophages, immune response
Human chitotriosidase is a chitinolytic enzyme and mainly produced by activated macrophages. Recently, we observed that prolactin, which is structurally related to several cytokines and is involved in regulating monocyte/macrophage functions, upregulates chitotriosidase gene expression in human macrophages, suggesting that chitotriosidase is not only a biochemical marker of macrophage activation in lysosomal diseases and hematological disorders, but also may reflect induction of an immunological response. To confirm this hypothesis we evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR the mRNA chitotriosidase levels in human monocytes/macrophages following treatment with pro-inflammatory stimuli such as interferon-?, tumor necrosis factor-?, lipopolysaccharide, and interleukin-10, an anti-inflammatory cytokine. Stimulation of macrophages with interferon-?, tumor necrosis factor-? and lipopolysaccharide resulted in increased levels of chitotriosidase mRNA, as well as chitotriosidase activity, whereas interleukin-10 decreased chitotriosidase synthesis. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that the production of chitotriosidase by macrophages could have biological relevance in the immune response.
Clinical Chemical Laboratory Medicine, Walter de Gruyter
Print ISSN: 1434-6621
Volume: 43, 05/2005
Pages: 499 - 502