Comparison of the activities of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-8 secretion between two lung epithelial cell lines.

The aim of this study was to survey the cytokine secretions in 2 human bronchial epithelial cell lines - a normal human bronchial epithelial cell line (HBEpC) and cell line A549, derived from malignant type II pneumocytes. The behavior of A549 cells is similar to epithelial cells and this line is widely used as an alternative model for studying human bronchial epithelial cell behavior. We measured the levels of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) after tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) or interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) stimulation in the 2 cell lines. Both cell lines responded to TNF-alpha or IL-1beta stimulation, as shown by increased GM-CSF and IL-8 secretion. The relative cost, convenience and similarity of working with these 2 cell lines suggest that A549 is preferable for use as a first-line model and that results of studies of GM-CSF and/or IL-8 secretion under various stimulation conditions with this line could be confirmed using HBEpC.