Pentoxifylline inhibits tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha)-induced T-lymphoma cell adhesion to endothelioma cells.

Pentoxifylline, a methylxanthine derivative, has been shown to inhibit T-cell-mediated cutaneous immune response by yet ill-understood mechanisms. Because cell adhesion to endothelial cells is a critical step in the initiation of such immune responses, we analyzed whether pentoxifylline would affect this process. To address this issue, adhesion of mouse T-lymphoma cells (TK-1) to mouse endothelioma cells (eEnd.2), either untreated or stimulated with tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha), was studied. Pentoxifylline reduced the ability of endothelioma cells stimulated with different concentrations of TNF alpha, but not of untreated endothelioma cells, to bind T-lymphoma cells in dose-dependent (10(-5)-10(-3) M) fashion. Selective incubation of either endothelioma cells or T-lymphoma cells revealed that pentoxifylline acted exclusively on the endothelioma cells, even when added after TNF alpha stimulation. We questioned whether pentoxifylline suppressed T-lymphoma cell/endothelioma cell interactions by interfering with adhesion molecules expressed by either cell. However, as determined by flow cytometry, pentoxifylline did not alter TNF alpha-induced upregulation of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 or vascular cellular adhesion molecule-1 on endothelioma cells nor did it affect constitutive CD11a, CD18, or alpha 4-integrin expression on T-lymphoma cells, suggesting that rather than affecting quantitative expression of these adhesion molecules, pentoxifylline might modulate their avidity. We conclude that pentoxifylline in therapeutically achievable concentrations is a potent inhibitor of TNF alpha-induced T-lymphoma cell adhesion to endothelioma cells. This finding may account, at least in part, for the recently discovered anti-inflammatory action of pentoxifylline.

Prostaglandin E1 inhibits TNF alpha-induced T-cell adhesion to endothelial cells by selective down-modulation of ICAM-1 expression on endothelial cells.

Prostaglandins have been shown to be involved in the suppression of contact hypersensitivity (CHS) by so-far ill understood mechanisms. T-cell migration across the lining of cytokine-activated endothelial cells (EC) is thought to be a central step in the initiation of CHS. The aim of our investigation was therefore to examine whether prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) influences cytokine-induced TK-1 mouse T-cell lymphoma adhesion to eEnd.2 mouse endothelioma cells. Here, we report that PGE1 (10(-12)-10(-8) M) dose-dependently reduced TNF alpha-induced T-cell binding, while TNF alpha-unstimulated adhesion was not affected. To test whether PGE1 acted primarily on T-cells or on EC, they were separately pretreated with PGE1 prior to the adhesion assay. Selective PGE1 pretreatment of eEnd.2, but not of TK-1 dose-dependently inhibited TNF alpha, stimulated T-cell adhesion. Since binding of TK-1 to TNF alpha-treated eEnd.2 is mediated by the interaction of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 (on EC) with their receptors LFA-1 and VLA-4 (on T-cells), we further investigated whether PGE1 would modulate the expression of these molecules. FACS-analysis revealed PGE1 to inhibit TNF alpha-induced upregulation of ICAM-1, but not of VCAM-1 on EC. Furthermore, constitutive LFA-1 and VLA-4 expression on T-cells was not affected by PGE1. We conclude that PGE1 supresses T-cell adhesion to EC by selectively inhibiting TNF alpha-induced upregulation of ICAM-1 on EC. This may be one mechanism by which prostaglandins suppress immune responses requiring T-cell EC interactions such as contact hypersensitivity in skin.