Chemotactic cytokine gene expression and production induced in human monocytes by membrane proteoglycans from Klebsiella pneumoniae.

The present study was designed to investigate the effect of membrane proteoglycans (MPG) from Klebsiella pneumoniae on production of the chemotactic cytokine, IL-8, and monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP) by human peripheral blood monocytes. Exposure of human peripheral blood monocytes to MPG in vitro induced high levels of mRNA transcripts for IL-8 and MCP, as assessed by Northern blot analysis. Cytokine gene expression was associated with the production of chemotactic activity in the supernatants. The levels of IL-8 and MCP expression induced by MPG were comparable with those elicited by LPS. Induction of chemotactic cytokines in mononuclear phagocytes may play a role in the immunomodulatory activity of MPG.