Endothelial cell associated platelet-activating factor (PAF), a costimulatory intermediate in TNF-alpha-induced H2O2 release by adherent neutrophil leukocytes.

TNF is a strong secretagogue for surface-contacting neutrophils. During inflammation, endothelium offers the first substrate for neutrophil adherence and for modulation of the toxic response of neutrophils to soluble agonists such as TNF. In this in vitro study, evidence is presented that endothelium participates actively in TNF-induced neutrophil respiratory burst activity by expressing platelet-activating factor (PAF) in response to initial neutrophil H2O2 release. Three findings are shown that favor such a mechanism. First, PAF receptor antagonists reduced H2O2 release by TNF-activated neutrophils placed on endothelium approximately by 50%, whereas H2O2 responses by neutrophils placed on serum-coated polystyrene remained intact. Second, preincubation of HUVEC with known PAF-inducing agents PMA, H2O2, and thrombin, followed by fixation, enhanced neutrophil H2O2 release in response to TNF. H2O2 release by these neutrophils was sensitive to the presence of PAF receptor antagonists, whereas H2O2-release from neutrophils placed on fixed nonactivated endothelial cells was not. Finally, replacing endothelium by monolayers of human renal cortical epithelial cells and human fibroblasts, cells that are known to produce less PAF than endothelial cells, reduced the effect of PAF receptor antagonists. P-selectin expression and IL-8 release, two other ways by which endothelial cells might influence H2O2-release by TNF preincubated neutrophils, were examined in parallel, and were found not to influence TNF-induced neutrophil H2O2-release. We conclude that during neutrophil-endothelial interaction in inflammation, endothelium modulates the toxic response of neutrophils to TNF. Endothelial cell-associated PAF, but not endothelial cell IL-8 release and P-selectin expression, is likely to participate in TNF-induced neutrophil respiratory burst activity.