Interleukin-1 beta maturation and release in response to ATP and nigericin. Evidence that potassium depletion mediated by these agents is a necessary and common feature of their activity.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated mouse peritoneal macrophages produce large quantities of interleukin (IL)-1 beta but in the absence of a secondary stimulus little of this cytokine is proteolytically processed to its mature biologically active state and externalized. The potassium-proton ionophore nigericin and ATP are known to promote the maturation and release of IL-1 beta from LPS-stimulated cells. We investigated the mechanisms by which these agents act in an attempt to understand requirements of the post-translational processing. Like nigericin, the ionophores A204 and lasalocid induced the release and maturation of IL-1 beta. The electrogenic potassium ionophore valinomycin, however, did not stimulate these post-translational events. Addition of nigericin or lasalocid to LPS-stimulated cells produced a rapid intracellular acidification; A204, however, did not alter pH, indicating that an acidification was not necessary for activation of IL-1 beta maturation. Macrophages treated with ATP became rounded and swollen, and after 30 min of treatment their appearance was comparable with cells treated with nigericin. Post-translational maturation and release of IL-1 beta began immediately after ATP addition. The majority of the 17-kDa mature IL-1 beta produced within the first 30 min of treatment was recovered extracellularly; in contrast, during this same time period the 35-kDa IL-1 beta precursor and the cytoplasmic marker enzyme lactate dehydrogenase and the lysosomal enzyme beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase remained cell-associated. ATP, therefore, promoted both the proteolytic maturation of IL-1 beta and the release of the biologically active species in the absence of cell lysis. Longer incubations with ATP caused cytolysis as judged by the release of the cytoplasmic enzymes. ADP was less active than ATP at initiating the post-translational maturation and release of IL-1 beta and AMP, GTP, and UTP were totally inactive, ATP, nigericin, A204, and lasalocid promoted a rapid and complete loss of the potassium analog 86Rb+ from cells that were preloaded with this cation; valinomycin-treated cells released only a portion of the radiolabeled cation. Agents that promoted the maturation and release of IL-1 beta from LPS-stimulated macrophages, therefore, shared an ability to mobilize intracellular potassium. Macrophages treated with ATP or nigericin in medium that contained KCl rather than NaCl failed to proteolytically activate and to release IL-1 beta. These data suggest that ATP and nigericin induce a net decrease in intracellular levels of K+ which is necessary for activation of the post-translational maturation of IL-1 beta.