Collagens act as ligands to stimulate human monocytes to produce mononuclear cell factor (MCF) and prostaglandins (PGE2).

Blood mononuclear cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis produce the lymphokine, leukocyte inhibitory factor (LIF) in response to collagens in vitro, and blood monocytes release prostaglandins (PGE2) and a factor, mononuclear cell factor (MCF) which stimulates collagenase and PGE2 production by cultured synovial cells. We therefore examined the effect of collagens on the production of PGE2 and MCF. Blood mononuclear cells from 6 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 6 normal subjects were cultured in native human types I, II, or III collagen-coated tubes, or with streptokinase-streptodornase (SK-SD), and the supernatant media derived from these cultures analyzed for the presence of MCF, PGE2, and LIF. Types II and III collagens, as well as SK-SD, markedly stimulated MCF production by the cells from all 12 subjects (MCF activity, expressed as a mean stimulation index (SI) +/- SEM, was 43 +/- 12 for type II, 33 +/- 7 for type III, and 37 +/- 23 for SK-SD). Type I collagen was less stimulatory (mean SI 10 +/- 7). Cells from the patients with rheumatoid arthritis, but not the normal subjects, produced LIF in response to types II or III collagens but not to type I collagen. PGE2 production by blood mononuclear cells paralleled that of MCF, although abrogation of PGE2 release with indomethacin did not reduce MCF production. alpha chains purified from denatured collagens also stimulated MCF production. Using cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis, type II collagen stimulated production of all three factors in the presence of polymyxin B or fibronectin-depleted serum, suggesting, respectively, that neither endotoxin nor fibronectin were responsible for their generation. Monocytes, purified from normal blood by an adherence technique, but not lymphocytes depleted of monocytes, released MCF and PGE2 when cultured with type II collagen. These results demonstrate that collagens can act as ligands to stimulate monocytes, as well as antigens to stimulate sensitized lymphocytes, to produce soluble factors that may contribute to the destruction of connective tissue.