RELEASE OF CYTOKINES AND PROTEASES FROM HUMAN PERIPHERAL-BLOOD MONONUCLEAR AND POLYMORPHONUCLEAR CELLS FOLLOWING PHAGOCYTOSIS AND LPS STIMULATION

Release and cellular contents of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, neutrophilic elastase and secretory leukocyte proteinase inhibitor (S LPI) were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in periphera l blood mono- and polymorphonuclear cells stimulated with preopsonized yeast cells or lipopolysaccharide. Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) was also measured with a bioassay. TNF alpha production and sol uble TNF alpha receptor I (sTNF RI) were demonstrated in the environme nt of both cell populations. The bioassay indicated levels of TNF alph a far below those detected by ELISA. The overall secretion of cytokine s and their inhibitors was found to favour an anti-inflammatory balanc e in the environment of the stimulated cells. The interleukin-1 recept or antagonist (IL1-ra), compared with interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), dominated the secretions from both cell types with a 100- to 1000-fold excess respectively. Most of the translated IL-1 beta was not secrete d but found associated with the cellular compartments. In contrast to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation, preopsonized yeast cells stimula ted a massive release of elastase from neutrophil cells.