Rw. Palfreyman et al., INDUCTION OF BIOLOGICALLY-ACTIVE INTERLEUKIN-8 FROM LUNG EPITHELIAL-CELLS BY BURKHOLDERIA (PSEUDOMONAS) CEPACIA PRODUCTS, Infection and immunity, 65(2), 1997, pp. 617-622
The frequency of isolation of Burkholderia cepacia from the sputum of
cystic fibrosis (CF) patients is increasing, Using the human A549 lung
epithelial cell line, we have investigated the ability of B. cepacia
exoproducts to stimulate interleukin-8 (IL-8) release, Cell-free super
natants from a panel of CF clinical, non-CF clinical, and nonclinical
B. cepacia isolates were found to stimulate IL-8 release, with levels
ranging from 11.8 +/- 2.8 to 80.0 +/- 3.5 ng/ml, A similar pattern was
seen at the level of the IL-8 mRNA, The bioactivity of the IL-8 was c
onfirmed by examining its effect on the intracellular free calcium in
neutrophils and inhibition by a neutralizing anti-IL-8 antibody, B. ce
pacia lipopolysaccharide, which was able to stimulate IL-8 release fro
m monocytes, did not release IL-8 from the A549 cells, Furthermore, th
e stimulating ability of the bacterial cell-free supernatant was not d
iminished by polymyxin B, was markedly reduced by boiling, and appeare
d unrelated to N-acylhomoserine lactones. The ability of B. cepacia to
elicit IL-8 release from epithelial cells may be important in the pat
hology of CF.