Reactive oxygen species rapidly increase endothelial ICAM-1 ability to bind neutrophils without detectable upregulation.

We compared the effects of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and thrombin with those of nonlytic concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by hypoxanthine (HX)-xanthine oxidase (XO) on the adhesion properties of human umbilical cord vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) to resting polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN). PMN adherence to HX-XO-treated HUVEC was increased approximately twofold to 2.5-fold relative to untreated HUVEC, both immediately and after 2 hours. It was not additive to that induced by PMA or thrombin stimulation of HUVEC. ROS-induced adherence was not due to platelet-activating factor (PAF) or P-selectin expression, as it was neither antagonized by BN52021 (PAF receptor antagonist) nor inhibited by anti-P-selectin monoclonal antibody (MoAb), contrary to the increased adhesion of PMA- and thrombin-stimulated HUVEC. PMN preincubated with mannose-6-P or N-acetylneuraminic acid (sialic acid), but not mannose or galactose-6-P, showed reduced adherence to ROS-treated HUVEC, suggesting that carbohydrate molecules were expressed on the latter and served as the ligand for the PMN L-selectin. Intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1), constitutively present on the surface of resting HUVEC, was involved in the PMN adherence to ROS-treated HUVEC, since this adherence was inhibited by anti-ICAM-1, anti-CD11a, anti-CD11b, and anti-CD18 MoAbs. A non-CD18, non-ICAM-1-dependent mechanism is also involved in this adherence, since effects of these MoAbs were not additive; moreover, combinations of anti-CD18 and anti-ICAM-1 MoAbs with mannose-6-P and sialic acid completely inhibited PMN adherence. The increased binding of PMN to HX-XO-exposed HUVEC observed here involved IC-AM-1, but was independent of its upregulation, and another non-ICAM-1-dependent mechanism, in which carbohydrates expressed on HUVEC recognize L-selectin on PMN.