Exposure to ozone modulates human airway protease/antiprotease balance contributing to increased influenza A infection.

Exposure to oxidant air pollution is associated with increased respiratory morbidities and susceptibility to infections. Ozone is a commonly encountered oxidant air pollutant, yet its effects on influenza infections in humans are not known. The greater Mexico City area was the primary site for the spring 2009 influenza A H1N1 pandemic, which also coincided with high levels of environmental ozone. Proteolytic cleavage of the viral membrane protein hemagglutinin (HA) is essential for influenza virus infectivity. Recent studies suggest that HA cleavage might be cell-associated and facilitated by the type II transmembrane serine proteases (TTSPs) human airway trypsin-like protease (HAT) and transmembrane protease, serine 2 (TMPRSS2), whose activities are regulated by antiproteases, such as secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI). Based on these observations, we sought to determine how acute exposure to ozone may modulate cellular protease/antiprotease expression and function, and to define their roles in a viral infection. We utilized our in vitro model of differentiated human nasal epithelial cells (NECs) to determine the effects of ozone on influenza cleavage, entry, and replication. We show that ozone exposure disrupts the protease/antiprotease balance within the airway liquid. We also determined that functional forms of HAT, TMPRSS2, and SLPI are secreted from human airway epithelium, and acute exposure to ozone inversely alters their expression levels. We also show that addition of antioxidants significantly reduces virus replication through the induction of SLPI. In addition, we determined that ozone-induced cleavage of the viral HA protein is not cell-associated and that secreted endogenous proteases are sufficient to activate HA leading to a significant increase in viral replication. Our data indicate that pre-exposure to ozone disrupts the protease/antiprotease balance found in the human airway, leading to increased influenza susceptibility.

Inhibition of SLPI ameliorates disease activity in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

BACKGROUND: The secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) exerts wide ranging effects on inflammatory pathways and is upregulated in EAE but the biological role of SLPI in EAE, an animal model of multiple sclerosis is unknown METHODS: To investigate the pathophysiological effects of SLPI within EAE, we induced SLPI-neutralizing antibodies in mice and rats to determine the clinical severity of the disease. In addition we studied the effects of SLPI on the anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-ß. RESULTS: The induction of SLPI neutralizing antibodies resulted in a milder disease course in mouse and rat EAE. SLPI neutralization was associated with increased serum levels of TGF-ß and increased numbers of FoxP3+ CD4+ T cells in lymph nodes. In vitro, the addition of SLPI significantly decreased the number of functional FoxP3+ CD25(hi) CD4+ regulatory T cells in cultures of naive human CD4+ T cells. Adding recombinant TGF-ß to SLPI-treated human T cell cultures neutralized SLPI's inhibitory effect on regulatory T cell differentiation. CONCLUSION: In EAE, SLPI exerts potent pro-inflammatory actions by modulation of T-cell activity and its neutralization may be beneficial for the disease.

Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) expression and tumor invasion in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Differential expression of secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) impacts on tumor progression. SLPI directly inhibits elastase and other serine proteases, and regulates matrix metalloproteinases, plasminogen activation, and plasmin downstream targets to influence invasion. We examined tissues from human oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) for SLPI expression in parallel with proteases associated with tumor progression and evaluated their relationships using tumor cell lines. Significantly decreased SLPI was detected in OSCC compared to normal oral epithelium. Furthermore, an inverse correlation between SLPI and histological parameters associated with tumor progression, including stage of invasion, pattern of invasion, invasive cell grade, and composite histological tumor score was evident. Conversely, elevated plasmin and elastase were positively correlated with histological parameters of tumor invasion. In addition to its known inhibition of elastase, we identify SLPI as a novel inhibitor of plasminogen activation through its interaction with annexin A2 with concomitant reduced plasmin generation by macrophages and OSCC cell lines. In an in vitro assay measuring invasive activity, SLPI blocked protease-dependent tumor cell migration. Our data suggest that SLPI may possess antitumorigenic activity by virtue of its ability to interfere with multiple requisite proteolytic steps underlying tumor cell invasion and may provide insight into potential stratification of oral cancer according to risk of occult metastasis, guiding treatment strategies.

Decreased levels of secretory leucoprotease inhibitor in the Pseudomonas-infected cystic fibrosis lung are due to neutrophil elastase degradation.

Secretory leucoprotease inhibitor (SLPI) is a neutrophil serine protease inhibitor constitutively expressed at many mucosal surfaces, including that of the lung. Originally identified as a serine protease inhibitor, it is now evident that SLPI also has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory functions, and therefore plays an important role in host defense. Previous work has shown that some host defense proteins such as SLPI and elafin are susceptible to proteolytic degradation. Consequently, we investigated the status of SLPI in the cystic fibrosis (CF) lung. A major factor that contributes to the high mortality rate among CF patients is Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. In this study, we report that P. aeruginosa-positive CF bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, which contains lower SLPI levels and higher neutrophil elastase (NE) activity compared with P. aeruginosa-negative samples, was particularly effective at cleaving recombinant human SLPI. Additionally, we found that only NE inhibitors were able to prevent SLPI cleavage, thereby implicating NE in this process. NE in excess was found to cleave recombinant SLPI at two novel sites in the NH(2)-terminal region and abrogate its ability to bind LPS and NF-kappaB consensus binding sites but not its ability to inhibit activity of the serine protease cathepsin G. In conclusion, this study provides evidence that SLPI is cleaved and inactivated by NE present in P. aeruginosa-positive CF lung secretions and that P. aeruginosa infection contributes to inactivation of the host defense screen in the CF lung.

Surfactant protein A enhances production of secretory leukoprotease inhibitor and protects it from cleavage by matrix metalloproteinases.

Mice lacking surfactant protein A (SP-A) are susceptible to bacterial infection associated with an excessive inflammatory response in the lung. To determine mechanisms by which SP-A is antiinflammatory in the lung during bacterial infection, SP-A regulation of secretory leukoprotease inhibitor (SLPI), an inhibitor of serine proteases, was assessed. SLPI protein expression and antineutrophil elastase activity were reduced in bronchoalveolar fluid of SP-A(-/-) compared with SP-A(+/+) mice. Intratracheal administration of SP-A to SP-A(-/-) mice enhanced SLPI protein expression and antineutrophil elastase activity in the lung. SLPI mRNA was similar in whole lung and alveolar type II cells; however, it was significantly reduced in alveolar macrophages from SP-A(-/-) compared with SP-A(+/+) mice. In vitro, SP-A enhanced SLPI production by macrophage THP-1 cells but not respiratory epithelial A549 cells. SP-A inhibited LPS induced IkappaB-alpha degradation in THP-1 cells, which was partially reversed with knockdown of SLPI. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-12 cleaved SLPI and incubation with SP-A reduced MMP-12-mediated SLPI cleavage. The collagen-like region of SP-A conferred protection of SLPI against MMP mediated cleavage. SP-A plays an important role in the lung during bacterial infection regulating protease and antiprotease activity.

Streptococcal DRS (distantly related to SIC) and SIC inhibit antimicrobial peptides, components of mucosal innate immunity: a comparison of their activities.

"Streptococcal inhibitor of complement" (SIC) and "distantly related to SIC" (DRS) are related virulence factors secreted by M1 and M12 strains of GAS, respectively. The human mucosal innate immune system, important components of which are beta-defensins, secretory leukocyte proteinase inhibitor (SLPI) and lysozyme, provides the first line of defence against microorganisms. We report the interaction between DRS and these proteins; further investigations into the interaction of SIC with the beta-defensins; and compare the sensitivity of M12 and M1 GAS to SLPI. We show that SLPI, which kills M1 GAS and is inhibited by SIC, cannot kill M12 GAS. DRS cannot inhibit SLPI killing of M1 GAS, although ELISA shows binding of DRS to SLPI. We suggest that the target for SLPI on M1 GAS resembles SIC, and soluble SIC inhibits by acting as a decoy for SLPI. M12 GAS may not have this target and cannot interact with SLPI. DRS inhibits the antibacterial action of hBD-2 and hBD-3. Binding of both SIC and DRS to hBD-2, and DRS to hBD-3, shows small positive enthalpy, suggesting that binding is largely hydrophobic. The data for SIC and hBD-3 indicate that this is not a homogeneous bimolecular interaction. We conclude that DRS shares several of the properties of SIC, and therefore can be considered an important virulence factor of M12 GAS and an aid to colonization of the host mucosae.