PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C F Nathan

Publications and source records attributed to C F Nathan.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Murine Kupffer cells. Mononuclear phagocytes deficient in the generation of reactive oxygen intermediates.

Murine Kupffer cells (KC) were isolated by a high yield collagenase perfusion technique. The morphology, surface markers, and secretory products were typical of macrophages in other tissues. However, KC released negligible levels of H2O2 and O-2, in contrast to peritoneal macrophages. KC oxygen consumption was not increased by agents triggering a respiratory burst in peritoneal cells. Moreover, KC capacity to secrete reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI), in contrast to Ia antigen expression, was not enhanced by exposure to lymphokines or recombinant gamma interferon. The selective defect in KC oxidative response was paralleled by impaired in vitro killing of Toxoplasma gondii trophozoites and Leishmania donovani promastigotes and amastigotes. Deficient secretion of ROI by KC might protect hepatocytes and erythrocytes from injury during endocytosis by KC, but might render the liver more susceptible to parasitization by organisms that are primarily killed through oxygen-dependent mechanisms.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

A semi-automated micro-assay for H2O2 release by human blood monocytes and mouse peritoneal macrophages.

H2O2 secreted by mononuclear phagocytes can be detected by monitoring the horseradish peroxidase-catalyzed oxidation of fluorescent scopoletin. This technique has been adapted to a semi-automated micro-scale with the aid of automatic fluorescence and absorbance micro-culture plate readers to measure H2O2 and protein, respectively, in the same culture wells. With these adaptations the assay can accurately and precisely detect as little as 0.1 nmol H2O2 or 1 microgram cell protein, permitting the calculation of specific secretion (nmol H2O2/mg cell protein) from as few as 2 X 10(4) human blood monocytes or mouse peritoneal macrophages. Cumulative H2O2 secretion in individual wells may be recorded non-destructively at frequent intervals for time course measurements. Less than 1 min is required to record the fluorescence in all 96 wells of a micro-culture plate. The assay is highly reproducible, with standard deviations for triplicates typically less than 5-10% of the mean, and gives values in close agreement with those obtained in 10-fold larger samples by previous methods. Using this assay it is feasible to process 1000 samples per day, with order of magnitude savings in labor, cells, sera, media, cytokines, and reagents compared to earlier forms of the assay. The assay is useful in evaluating the cellular effects of cytokines and for assaying their activity in chromatographic fractions and hybridoma cultures. We are currently using the assay to monitor the administration of interferon-gamma to patients with neoplasia.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Administration of recombinant interferon gamma to cancer patients enhances monocyte secretion of hydrogen peroxide.

Recombinant interferon gamma (rIFN-gamma) activates macrophage antimicrobial and antitumor functions and related metabolic processes, including secretion of reactive oxygen intermediates in mice and in cultured mouse and human macrophages. To look for similar actions in man, we monitored the H2O2 secretory capacity of monocytes from cancer patients receiving intravenous rIFN-gamma at 0.1, 0.5, or 1.0 mg/m2 of body area over 6 hr daily or over 1 hr on alternate days. Monocytes taken just before the first infusion served as controls and were comparable to normal donor monocytes in secretion of H2O2. Monocytes from 11 of the 13 subjects (85%) studied through 20 treatment cycles responded to rIFN-gamma with elevation in H2O2 secretion in greater than or equal to 67% of the tests conducted greater than 1 hr after the start of treatment. Five of the five subjects tested had monocytes with diminished H2O2 secretory capacity when tested immediately after a 1-hr infusion of rIRN-gamma, at which time the amount of adherent mononuclear cell protein recovered from the blood averaged only 24% of the control. At all other times tested (from 6 hr to 5 days after infusion) combined results for all subjects showed enhancement of H2O2 releasing capacity. Statistically significant mean increases ranged from 1.4- to 2.8-fold above the control and included the sets in which monocytes collected 24 hr following a single infusion were assayed the same day or the next. By the criterion of enhanced H2O2 secretory capacity, the ability of rIFN-gamma to activate mononuclear phagocytes is manifest upon its administration to patients with advanced malignancy.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Relationship between extracellular stimulation of intracellular killing and oxygen-dependent microbicidal systems of monocytes.

Human monocytes require serum components immunoglobulin G, C3/C3b, and B/Bb to exert optimal microbicidal action against ingested microorganisms. The present study was performed to find out whether these factors act by enhancing oxygen-dependent antimicrobial mechanisms. Serum enhanced oxygen consumption and superoxide production by monocytes before phagocytosis, but did not further increase these processes in monocytes that had recently ingested bacteria. Furthermore, serum did not boost iodination during intracellular killing by monocytes. Phorbol myristate acetate, N-formyl-methyonyl-leucyl-phenylalanine, concanavalin A, and concanavalin A-Sephadex all stimulated the conversion of O2 to H2O2 by monocytes, but only concanavalin A augmented intracellular killing. Reactive oxygen intermediates generated by cell-free enzymes (xanthine oxidase or glucose oxidase) in concentrations comparable to those accumulating extracellularly during incubation of monocytes containing bacteria with phorbol myristate acetate did not promote intracellular killing. The presence of catalase during phagocytosis inhibited killing, but had no effect on killing in the postphagocytic state. Monocytes deprived of glucose for 24 h showed markedly impaired O2 consumption, O2- generation, and bacterial killing; all of these effects were rapidly reversed by restoration of glucose. It is concluded that both an intact respiratory burst and extracellular serum factors are necessary for optimal killing of intracellular Staphylococcus aureus by human monocytes. Serum does not appear to act by enhancing the respiratory burst, but rather to have a separate, synergistic role, the biochemical basis of which is unknown.

Cell Membrane↗
PubMed1985

Resistance of human tumor cells in vitro to oxidative cytolysis.

Nine human cell types, six of them malignant, displayed a marked resistance to lysis by hydrogen peroxide (LD50, 2-20 mM). Of the reactive oxygen intermediates generated extracellularly, only H2O2 lysed all the cell types. OH was lytic to one of four, OI- to one of one, and O-2 to none of four cell types tested. Resistance to oxidative lysis did not correlate with specific activity of catalase, glutathione (GSH) peroxidase, other peroxidases, or glutathione disulfide reductase, or with specific content of GSH. Resistance to H2O2 seemed to occur via mechanisms distinct from those responsible for cellular consumption of H2O2. Consumption was inhibitable by azide and was probably due to catalase in each cell type. In contrast, resistance to oxidative lysis occurred via distinct routes in different cells. One cell type used the GSH redox cycle as the primary defense against H2O2, like murine tumors previously studied. Other cells seemed to utilize catalase as the major defense against H2O2. Nonetheless, with both catalase and the GSH redox cycle inhibited, all the human cells tested exhibited an inherent resistance to oxidative lysis, that is, resistance independent of detectable degradation of H2O2.

Catalase↗
PubMed1985

Activation of mouse peritoneal macrophages in vitro and in vivo by interferon-gamma.

To determine the role of IFN-gamma in the activation of resident mouse peritoneal macrophages, crude macrophage-activating lymphokines were incubated with a monoclonal anti-murine IFN-gamma antibody. This treatment abolished the capacity of mitogen-induced lymphokines to enhance either H2O2 release or activity against the intracellular protozoa Toxoplasma gondii and Leishmania donovani. All macrophage-activating factor detected by these assays was also removed by passing the lymphokines over a Sepharose column to which the monoclonal anti-IFN-gamma antibody had been coupled. Therefore, pure murine rIFN-gamma was tested both in vitro and in vivo as a single activating agent. After 48 hr of pretreatment in vitro with 0.01 to 1 antiviral U/ml, macrophage H2O2-releasing capacity was enhanced an average of 6.4-fold; half-maximal stimulation was induced by 0.03 U/ml. Resident macrophages infected with T. gondii half-maximally inhibited parasite replication after 24 hr of preincubation with 0.14 U/ml of rIFN-gamma, and near complete inhibition was achieved by pretreatment with 100 U/ml. Half-maximal leishmanicidal activity was induced by 0.08 U/ml of rIFN-gamma, and 67 to 75% of intracellular L. donovani amastigotes were killed after macrophages were preincubated with 10 to 100 U/ml. Eighteen hours after parenteral injection of rIFN-gamma, peritoneal macrophages displayed a dose-dependent enhancement of H2O2-releasing capacity and antiprotozoal activity. Half-maximal enhancement required 85 to 250 U or rIFN-gamma given i.p. Peritoneal macrophages were also activated by rIFN-gamma injected i.v. and intramuscularly. These results suggest that, in the mouse model, IFN-gamma is likely to be a primary factor within mitogen-induced lymphokines responsible for activating macrophage oxidative metabolism and antiprotozoal activity, and indicate that rIFN-gamma is a potent activator of these effector functions both in vitro and in vivo. These findings provide a rationale for evaluating rIFN-gamma in the treatment of systemic intracellular infections, and indicate that murine models are appropriate for such studies.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Activation of human macrophages. Comparison of other cytokines with interferon-gamma.

Cytokines affecting mononuclear phagocytes were screened for activation of human macrophages to secrete H2O2 and kill toxoplasmas. In contrast to recombinant interferon-gamma (rIFN gamma), the following factors, tested in partially or highly purified form and over a wide range of concentrations, did not augment these functions: native interferon-alpha (nIFN alpha), rIFN alpha A, rIFN alpha D, rIFN beta, colony stimulating factor (type 1) (CSF-1), CSF for granulocytes and macrophages (GM-CSF), pluripotent CSF (p-CSF), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), native interleukin 2 (nIL-2), and rIL-2. Partially purified migration inhibitory factor (MIF) enhanced H2O2-releasing capacity submaximally without inducing antitoxoplasma activity, and warrants further study.

Biological Products↗
PubMed1984

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin-activated murine macrophages kill syngeneic melanoma cells under strict anaerobic conditions.

We have studied the spontaneous killing of B5(59) melanoma cells by Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-elicited macrophages under strictly anaerobic conditions to investigate the role of oxygen in macrophage-mediated cytotoxicity. The number of melanoma cells capable of forming colonies after aerobic or anaerobic incubation with BCG-macrophages was used as the index of cytotoxicity. The BCG-macrophages killed melanoma cells regardless of the amount of oxygen present. The killing observed was proportional to the ratio of effector cells added; a ratio of 25:1 effector to target cells was required to achieve nearly 90% cytotoxicity both aerobically and anaerobically. This cytotoxicity was not dependent on a diffusible macrophage product nor on alteration of the medium by macrophages, since tumor cells incubated in the same culture medium, but not in contact with a mixed population of tumor cells and macrophages, were not killed. These results also indicated that macrophage-mediated cytotoxicity was dependent on macrophage-tumor cell contact. The mechanism responsible for the oxygen-independent cytotoxicity is unknown at present.

Aerobiosis↗
PubMed1984

Enzymatic basis of macrophage activation. Kinetic analysis of superoxide production in lysates of resident and activated mouse peritoneal macrophages and granulocytes.

To compare the kinetics of the O-2-generating enzyme in nonactivated and activated macrophages and granulocytes from the mouse peritoneal cavity, we sought conditions in which the activity of this enzyme in cell lysates was comparable to that in intact cells. Pretreatment of macrophages with 10 mM diethyldithiocarbamate inhibited endogenous superoxide dismutase by 70% and enhanced O-2 secretion up to 15-fold, so that it was comparable to H2O2 secretion. O-2 secretion was terminated by detergent lysis and reconstituted by addition of NAD(P)H to the lysates. Optimal detection of O-2 production in lysates depended on prior stimulation of the respiratory burst, lysis with 0.05% deoxycholate rather than any of 4 other detergents or sonication, acetylation of the cytochrome c used as an indicator, and addition of NADPH rather than NADH. Kinetic analysis using NADPH-reconstituted deoxycholate lysates, together with spectra of oxidized and reduced cells, failed to reveal either marked differences in the Vmax of the O-2-generating enzyme or correlations between O-2 secretion and cytochrome b559 content among 5 macrophage populations whose H2O2 secretion ranged from 0 to 365 nmol/90 min/mg of protein. In contrast, the Km of the oxidase for NADPH varied markedly and inversely with the capacity of the intact cells to secrete O-2 or H2O2: J774G8 histiocytoma cells, 1.43 mM; resident macrophages, 0.41 mM; proteose peptone-elicited macrophages, 0.20 mM; casein-activated macrophages, 0.05 mM; NaIO4-activated macrophages, 0.05 mM; and granulocytes, 0.04 mM. These results suggest that macrophage activation, a process that enhances oxygen-dependent antitumor and antimicrobial functions, may equip the cell to secrete increased amounts of reactive oxygen intermediates largely by increasing the affinity of the oxidase for NADPH.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Glutathione metabolism as a determinant of therapeutic efficacy: a review.

Glutathione, as the chief nonprotein intracellular sulfhydryl, affects the efficacy and interactions of a variety of antineoplastic interventions, mainly through nucleophilic thioether formation or oxidation-reduction reactions. Thus, glutathione plays a role in the detoxification and repair of cellular injury by such diverse agents as mechlorethamine, melphalan, cyclophosphamide, nitrosoureas, 6-thiopurine, 4'-(9-acridinylamino)methanesulfon-m-anisidide, the quinone antibiotics (including Adriamycin, daunorubicin, and mitomycin C), the sesquiterpene lactones (such as vernolepin), and other sulfhydryl-reactive diterpenes (like jatrophone). Glutathione may play a similar role in host and tumor cell responses to radiation, hyperthermia, and the reactive reduction products of oxygen secreted by inflammatory cells. Further, glutathione participates in the formation of toxic metabolites of such chemotherapeutics as azathioprine and bleomycin and may affect the cellular uptake of other agents, such as methotrexate. It seems likely that alterations in glutathione metabolism of tumor or host as a result of one therapeutic intervention may affect the outcome of concurrent treatments. Knowledge of these interactions may be useful in designing combination therapy for neoplastic disease.

Aminoacridines↗
PubMed1983

Identification of interferon-gamma as the lymphokine that activates human macrophage oxidative metabolism and antimicrobial activity.

Human blood mononuclear leukocytes stimulated with toxoplasma antigen, concanavalin A, mezerein plus lentil lectin, or staphylococcal enterotoxin A secreted a factor (macrophage-activating factor, or MAF) that enhanced the capacity of human macrophages to release H2O2 and to kill toxoplasmas. The same lymphoid supernatants contained IFN gamma but not IFN alpha or IFN beta. The MAF activity of six of seven unfractionated supernatants was completely eliminated by a monoclonal antibody that neutralizes IFN gamma, and MAF in the remaining supernatant was almost completely neutralized. Native IFN gamma partially purified by two independent protocols to specific activities of 1 X 10(6) and 10(7) U/mg protein was enriched in MAF activity at least as much as in antiviral activity. The capacity of macrophages to secrete H2O2 after incubation in partially purified native IFN gamma (mean peak stimulation, 8.8-fold) was greater than with unpurified lymphokines (3.8-fold) and sometimes equaled or exceeded the capacity of freshly harvested monocytes. The MAF activity of the partially purified native IFN gamma preparations was abolished by monoclonal anti-IFN gamma. Finally, IFN gamma of greater than 99% estimated purity was isolated (at Genentech, Inc.) from bacteria transformed with the cloned human gene for this lymphokine. Recombinant IFN gamma had potent MAF activity, stimulating the peroxide-releasing capacity of macrophages an average of 19.8-fold at peak response and enhancing their ability to kill toxoplasmas from 2.6 +/- 1.3% for untreated cells to 54 +/- 0.4% for treated cells. Attainment of 50% of the maximal elevation in peroxide-releasing capacity required a geometric mean concentration of 0.1 antiviral U/ml of recombinant IFN gamma, which is estimated to be approximately 6 picomolar for this preparation. Peroxide secretory capacity and toxoplasmacidal activity of macrophages peaked 2-4 d after exposure to IFN gamma. Peroxide-secretory capacity remained elevated during at least 6 d of continuous exposure, but the effect of IFN gamma was reversed within about 3 d of its removal. Activation was usually but not invariably accompanied by characteristic changes in cell morphology. Thus, IFN gamma activates human macrophage oxidative metabolism and antimicrobial activity, and appeared to be the only factor consistently capable of doing so in the diverse LK preparations tested.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

A simple method for counting adherent cells: application to cultured human monocytes, macrophages and multinucleated giant cells.

A simple method was devised for counting small numbers (10(4)-10(6)) of adherent mononuclear phagocytes, including populations containing multinucleated giant cells, which often arise during cultivation of human blood monocytes. Coverslips with adherent cells were transferred into small volumes (50-200 microliters) of 0.1 M citric acid, pH 2.2, containing 0.05% naphthol blue black and 1.0% of either Triton X-100 or Cetavlon. Triton X-100 was adequate for use with monocytes and macrophages from early cultures. However, Cetavlon was preferable for use with older cultures of adherent human mononuclear cells in order to prevent aggregation of the nuclei from giant cells. When multinucleated cells were present, separately stained coverslips were inspected to determine the mean number of nuclei per cell. This value, together with the number of nuclei per coverslip, permitted calculation of the number of cells per coverslip. The latter value is not readily derived from measurements of protein or DNA content in populations containing multinucleated giant cells. This counting method was simpler and more sensitive than several previously reported methods for enumerating adherent macrophages.

Cell Adhesion↗
PubMed1983

Inhibition of glutathione synthesis augments lysis of murine tumor cells by sulfhydryl-reactive antineoplastics.

GSH plays an important role in cellular defense against a wide variety of toxic electrophiles via the formation of thioether conjugates. We studied the role of GSH in murine tumor cell defense against a novel class of sulfhydryl-reactive antineoplastics, the sesquiterpene lactones (SL). Incubation of P815 mastocytoma cells with any of the four SL tested (vernolepin, helenalin, elephantopin, and eriofertopin) for 1 h resulted in 70-97% depletion of GSH. The importance of GSH resynthesis upon exposure of tumor cells to SL was evaluated with the use of buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), a selective, nontoxic inhibitor of gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase. Inhibition of GSH synthesis with 0.2 mM BSO markedly enhanced SL-mediated cytolysis of four murine tumor cell lines. A 6- to 34-fold reduction in the amount of SL causing 50% lysis was obtained with BSO. Addition of BSO to P815cells either during or immediately after a 1-h pulse with 10 micrograms/ml of vernolepin increased cytolysis from less than 3% to 78-82%. However, a 1.5-h delay in the addition of BSO to such cells, which allowed for substantial resynthesis of GSH, reduced cytolysis to 30%. Recovery of GSH synthetic capacity after BSO treatment correlated with loss of the synergistic effect of BSO on lysis by vernolepin. BSO did not augment cytolysis by six other antineoplastics (doxorubicin, mitomycin C, vinblastine, cytosine arabinoside, maytansine, and 1,3-bis-[2-chloroethyl]-1-nitrosourea [BCNU]). Of these, only BCNU depleted cellular GSH. Lysis by jatrophone, another GSH-depleting antitumor agent, was increased 21-fold by BSO. Since prolonged incubation with BSO alone results in near-complete GSH depletion without loss of cell viability, SL-mediated cytolysis is probably not a result of GSH depletion. We have demonstrated, however, a critical role for GSH synthetic capacity as a determinant of tumor cell susceptibility to cytolysis by SL. GSH also plays an important role in cellular defense against oxidative injury. Vernolepin, acting as a GSH-depleting agent, markedly sensitized tumor cells to lysis by H2O2 (greater than 6.5-fold increase with 20 micrograms/ml of vernolepin). These findings suggest the possibility that the coordinated deployment of sulfhydryl-reactive antitumor agents, BSO, and oxidative injury might constitute an effective chemotherapeutic strategy.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Suppression of macrophage antimicrobial activity by a tumor cell product.

Medium conditioned by tumor cells (TCM) and certain nonmalignant cells contains a trypsin-sensitive factor that suppresses macrophage oxidative metabolism. Because the killing of intracellular pathogens such as Toxoplasma gondii and Leishmania donovani by macrophages is largely oxygen-dependent, we tested the effect of TCM on the antiprotozoal activity of mouse peritoneal macrophages. After 24 hr of cultivation with TCM, in vivo and in vitro activated macrophages could no longer kill toxoplasmas or inhibit their replication. In vivo administration of TCM resulted in similar impairment. The leishmanicidal activity of resident and activated macrophages, when measured 6 hr after infection, was markedly suppressed by in vitro exposure to TCM. The addition of exogenous H2O2 in the form of glucose-glucose oxidase reconstituted the capacity of TCM-exposed macrophages to kill L. donovani promastigotes as quickly as control cells. Thus, TCM appears to deactivate macrophages by the functional criteria of suppressed antitoxoplasmal and antileishmanial activity, as well as by the biochemical criterion of suppressed oxidative metabolism.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Suppression of macrophage oxidative metabolism by products of malignant and nonmalignant cells.

Each of 11 tumors tested produced a factor that markedly suppressed the ability of macrophages to release H2O2 or O.2- in response to phorbol myristate acetate or zymosan. Four of seven normal cell types produced a similar activity, which was 3.5-7 times lower in titer than that in tumor cell-conditioned medium (TCM), and which was much more rapidly reversible in its effects. TCM caused 50% inhibition of H2O2 release when it was present in the medium for 48 h at a concentration of 13%, or when 100% TCM was present in the medium for 18 h. The H2O2-releasing capacity of macrophages incubated in TCM only returned to control levels by 6 d after its removal. TCM prevented augmentation of H2O2-releasing capacity by lymphokines. The titer of suppressive activity in TCM depended on both the concentration of tumor cells and the duration of their incubation. TCM did not augment the activity of catalase, myeloperoxidase, glutathione peroxidase, or glutathione reductase or the content of glutathione within macrophages, suggesting that decreased synthesis rather than increased catabolism was responsible for reduced secretion of H2O2. Suppression of the release of H2O2 or O.2- by TCM appeared to be a relatively specific effect, in that TCM increased macrophage spreading and adherence to glass while exerting little influence on rates of phagocytosis, synthesis of protein, or secretion of lysozyme, plasminogen activator, or arachidonic acid and its metabolites. Thus, tumor cells and some normal cells can secrete a factor that selectively deactivates macrophage oxidative metabolism.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Augmentation of spontaneous macrophage-mediated cytolysis by eosinophil peroxidase.

Eosinophil peroxidase (EPO), a cationic protein purified from horse blood, adhered to four different types of tumor cells, markedly potentiating their lysis by preformed or enzymatically generated H(2)0(2) (up to 76-fold, as assayed in serum-containing tissue culture medium without supplemental halide). Similarly, compared with uncoated tumor cells, EPO-coated tumor cells were up to 32 times more sensitive to lysis when incubated with macrophages or granulocytes whose respiratory burst was triggered by PMA. However, EPO-coated tumor cells were also readily lysed by bacillus Calmette- Guerin-activated macrophages in the absence of exogenous triggering agents. This spontaneous cytolysis was rapid (50 percent at 2 h) and potent (50 percent lysis at macrophage/tumor cell ratios of 1.5 to 4.6), and was observed with both a peroxide-sensitive tumor (TLX9) and a peroxide-resistant tumor (NK lymphoma). Under the conditions used, neither EPO alone nor macrophages alone were spontaneously cytolytic. Neither EPO nor EPO-coated tumor cells triggered a detectable increment in H(2)0(2) release from macrophages. Nonetheless, spontaneous macrophage-mediated cytolysis of EPO- coated tumor cells was completely inhibitable by catalase (50 percent inhibition, 23 U/ml), although not by heated catalase, indicating a requirement for H(2)0(2). Cytolysis was also completely inhibitable by azide (50 percent inhibition, 2.6 X 10 -5 M), indicating a requirement for enzymatic activity of EPO. Thus, a cytophilic peroxidase from eosinophils and H(2)0(2) spontaneously released from activated macrophages interacted synergistically in a physiologic medium to destroy tumor cells.

Animals↗