Xc. Li et al., EXPRESSION OF FUNCTIONAL ICAM-1 AND VCAM-1 ADHESION MOLECULES BY AN IMMORTALIZED EPITHELIAL-CELL CLONE DERIVED FROM THE SMALL-INTESTINE, Cellular immunology, 175(1), 1997, pp. 58-66
The role of small bowel-derived epithelial cells in regulating the acc
umulation of inflammatory cells within the inflamed gut epithelium is
poorly understood because of the difficulties in culturing the epithel
ial cells in vitro. We have recently developed a cloned epithelial cel
l line (IEC-4.1) derived from the small intestine of BALB/c mice. In t
he present study, we examined whether IEC-4.1 cells could express adhe
sion molecules ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 and the molecular basis of macrophage
adhesion to the epithelial cells. Northern blot analysis demonstrated
that IEC-4.1 cells constitutively expressed ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 mRNA at
low levels. Stimulation with LPS (12 mu g/ml) or TNF-alpha (2.5 ng/ml
) markedly upregulated ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 gene expression in IEC-4.1 ce
lls. ICAM-1 mRNA started to increase 2 hr after LPS stimulation, peake
d at 4 hr, and then decreased rapidly to the basal level at 8 hr. VCAM
-1 mRNA had the similar pattern of upregulation but the increased VCAM
-1 mRNA sustained over a longer period of time and did not return to t
he basal level until 24 hr after the stimulation. IEC-4.1 cells expres
sed very low basal levels of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 on the cell surface as
demonstrated by immunofluorescence staining and FACS analysis, Stimula
tion of IEC-4.1 cells with LPS or TNF-alpha markedly increased the sur
face expression of both ICAM-1 and VCAM-1, which correlated with the i
ncreased binding of macrophages to the stimulated IEC-4.1 cells. Adher
ence of macrophages to the IEC-4.1 cells was mediated by both LFA-1/IC
AM-1 and VLA-4/VCAM-1 since blocking both adhesion pathways inhibited
macrophage adhesion by about 90%. These findings suggest that small bo
wel-derived epithelial cells may be capable of expressing a defined se
t of functional adhesion molecules during mucosal inflammation. (C) 19
97 Academic Press