BIOLOGICAL RESPONSE OF ENDOTHELIAL-CELLS AND ITS MODULATION BY CYTOKINES - PROSPECTS FOR THERAPY AND BIOPROCESSES

Endothelial cells are involved in important pathological situations. T hey could be the target for infectious processes as for example in Cow driosis, an important disease in cattle due to the rickettsia Cowdria ruminantium prevalent in the south of the Sahara. They are also connec ted to angiogenic processes related to tumor invasion. Our results ind icate that AIDS related Kaposi sarcoma cells may be of endothelial ori gin. We conclude from our data that the mobility of those cells, relat ed to the expression of the metalloproteinases (especially the 92 kD f orm of the enzyme), is an important factor in Kaposi sacroma dissemina tion and is the main factor limiting the scale up of Cowdriosis vaccin e production in Bovine Umbilical Endothelial Cell line. We showed that PMA and TNF increased the 92 kD Metallaproteinase and that TGF beta, produced in an inactive form in cultures of Human Umbilical Vein Endot helial Cells, is a potential inhibitor of Kaposi sarcoma spreading, an d could also be useful in improving our process for Cowdria ruminantiu m vaccine production, since it reduces the sensitivity of the cells to mechanical stress without affecting significantly the overall infecti ous process.