Change in sensitivity to lipopolysaccharide during the differentiation of human monocytes to macrophages in vitro.

Mononuclear phagocytes in distinct differentiation stages and cultured under different conditions were tested for their sensitivity towards lipopolysaccharide (LPS), using procoagulant activity (PCA) expression and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) production as indices. The response of mature monocyte-derived macrophages differed from that of freshly isolated monocytes 1) by higher levels of constitutive PCA, 2) by responding to approximately 1,000-fold lower concentrations of LPS with PCA and TNF production, and 3) by a faster rise in PCA and TNF production. Due to the high constitutive level of PCA expression, the PCA stimulation index for LPS was low in macrophages when compared with that in monocytes. Thus, during differentiation to macrophages, human monocytes acquire increased sensitivity to LPS (2 orders of magnitude more sensitive than a sensitive turbidimetric Limulus amoebocyte lysate assay). This exquisite sensitivity to LPS is expressed regardless of whether LPS is offered in the presence or absence of lipopolysaccharide binding protein-containing serum. This points to as yet uncharacterized pathways of high affinity interaction between LPS and macrophages.