Engagement of CD14 on human monocytes terminates T cell proliferation by delivering a negative signal to T cells.

We have recently shown that engagement of the human monocytic Ag CD14 by murine mAb induces lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1/intercellular adhesion molecule-1-dependent homotypic adhesion. To determine whether CD14 plays a role in monocyte-T cell interactions, we tested the effect of anti-CD14 mAb on the proliferation of human T cells. Our results show that anti-CD14 mAb strongly inhibited T cell proliferation induced by Ag, anti-CD3 mAb, and mitogenic lectins. Inhibition by anti-CD14 mAb was epitope-dependent and required physical contact between monocytes and T cells. CD14 engagement did not affect IL-2R expression or IL-2 synthesis but induced a state of unresponsiveness that was not IL-2 specific; proliferation of anti-CD3-activated T cell blasts in response to both IL-2 and IL-4 was abrogated by addition of monocytes preincubated with anti-CD14 mAb. Inhibition of T cell proliferation after engagement of CD14 on monocytes was likely to result from delivery of a negative signal to T cells, rather than from disruption of a costimulatory monocyte-derived signal, because incubation of monocytes with anti-CD14 mAb also inhibited monocyte-independent T cell proliferation induced by PMA and ionophore. These results, together, point to a role of CD14 in the monocyte-dependent regulation of T cell proliferation.