Prevention by delay: nonspecific immunity elicited by IL-12 hinders Her-2/neu mammary carcinogenesis in transgenic mice.

As a natural consequence of the expression of the activated transforming rat Her-2/neu oncogene all mammary glands of female transgenic BALB/c (BALB-neuT) mice develop atypical epithelial hyperplasia which progresses to invasive carcinoma. A lobular carcinoma is palpable in all mammary glands of 33-week-old BALB-neuT mice. This progression is markedly delayed by systemic administration of IL-12. In a series of studies the best administration schedule, the lowest dose and the most effective administration time have been defined. The cellular and molecular mechanisms resulting in the delay of carcinogenesis have been established. By means of a series of downstream mediators IL-12 inhibits the angiogenic burst that goes along with the passage from preneoplastic to neoplastic and invasive lesions; it also recruits lymphoid cells in the mammary pad and activates their cytotoxicity towards neoplastic cells and newly formed vessels; and furthermore, it induces lymphoid cells to trigger antiangiogenic activities in neoplastic epithelial cells. Effective, low-dose and non-toxic IL-12 treatments may thus be envisaged as a possible option in the management of preneoplastic mammary lesions and in mammary cancer prevention.

Removal of constitutive and inducible nitric oxide synthase-active compounds in a modified hemodiafiltration with on-line production of substitution fluid: the contribution of convection and diffusion.

Chronic renal failure and the uremic state lead to accumulation of various endogenous inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase. Previous studies on end-stage uremic patients nitric oxide synthase activity in murine vascular endothelium and cytokine-induced macrophage cell lines was shown to be modulated during treatment (Nephrol Dial Transplant 1995; 10: 1386-96). Paired filtration dialysis, a modified hemodiafiltration technique, physically separates convection from diffusion. Plasmas, ultrafiltrates and dialysates from seven uremic patients undergoing paired filtration dialysis performed using ultrapure apyrogen substitution fluid in the absence (first 120 min) or presence (last 120 min) of extracellular fluid reduction were tested for their inhibitory/stimulatory effect on ecNOS, constitutively expressed on t.End 1 cell line, a murine vascular endothelium, or for their inducing effect on iNOS, inducible on J774 cells, a macrophage cell line. On ecNOS, Group 1 (stimulatory, 3/7 patients) markedly enhanced the ecNOS activity as compared to control plasma, whereas group 2 plasma (inhibitory, 4/7 patients) inhibited ecNOS plasma. Post-dialysis plasma samples from all Group 1 and 2 patients showed a marked decrease of the predialysis stimulatory and inhibitory activity, respectively. On iNOS: all patient plasmas stimulated iNOS activity. The UF and particularly the dialysate had a remarkable iNOS inducing effect (Group 1). The substitution fluid obtained at 120 min during treatment in Group 1 and 2 had no effect on NOS activity. No correlation was found between predialysis ecNOS or iNOS activity values with mean systolic or diastolic pressures. These studies suggest a complex balance of ecNOS inhibitors/stimulators and iNOS inducers in uremia. Dialysis may remove ecNOS inhibitors and stimulators by convection and, in the latter case, by diffusion. iNOS inducers are removed during dialysis, suggesting the biocompatibility of the dialysis system with the on-line production of ultrapure substitution fluid.

Role of alphavbeta3 integrin in the activation of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2.

Interaction between integrin alphavbeta3 and extracellular matrix is crucial for endothelial cells sprouting from capillaries and for angiogenesis. Furthermore, integrin-mediated outside-in signals co-operate with growth factor receptors to promote cell proliferation and motility. To determine a potential regulation of angiogenic inducer receptors by the integrin system, we investigated the interaction between alphavbeta3 integrin and tyrosine kinase vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) in human endothelial cells. We report that tyrosine-phosphorylated VEGFR-2 co-immunoprecipitated with beta3 integrin subunit, but not with beta1 or beta5, from cells stimulated with VEGF-A165. VEGFR-2 phosphorylation and mitogenicity induced by VEGF-A165 were enhanced in cells plated on the alphavbeta3 ligand, vitronectin, compared with cells plated on the alpha5beta1 ligand, fibronectin or the alpha2beta1 ligand, collagen. BV4 anti-beta3 integrin mAb, which does not interfere with endothelial cell adhesion to vitronectin, reduced (i) the tyrosine phosphorylation of VEGFR-2; (ii) the activation of downstream transductor phosphoinositide 3-OH kinase; and (iii) biological effects triggered by VEGF-A165. These results indicate a new role for alphavbeta3 integrin in the activation of an in vitro angiogenic program in endothelial cells. Besides being the most important survival system for nascent vessels by regulating cell adhesion to matrix, alphavbeta3 integrin participates in the full activation of VEGFR-2 triggered by VEGF-A, which is an important angiogenic inducer in tumors, inflammation and tissue regeneration.

IL-12 inhibition of endothelial cell functions and angiogenesis depends on lymphocyte-endothelial cell cross-talk.

In vivo IL-12-dependent tumor inhibition rests on the ability of IL-12 to activate a CD8-mediated cytotoxicity, inhibit angiogenesis, and cause vascular injury. Although in vivo studies have shown that such inhibition stems from complex interactions of immune cells and the production of IFN-gamma and other downstream angiostatic chemokines, the mechanisms involved are still poorly defined. Here we show that IL-12 activates an anti-angiogenic program in Con A-activated mouse spleen cells (activated spc) or human PBMC (activated PBMC). The soluble factors they release in its presence arrest the cycle of endothelial cells (EC), inhibit in vitro angiogenesis, negatively modulate the production of matrix metalloproteinase-9, and the ability of EC to adhere to vitronectin and up-regulate ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 expression. These effects do not require direct cell-cell contact, yet result from continuous interaction between activated lymphoid cells and EC. We used neutralizing Abs to show that the IFN-inducible protein-10 and monokine-induced by IFN-gamma chemokines are pivotal in inducing these effects. Experiments with nu/nu mice, nonobese diabetic-SCID mice, or activated spc enriched in specific cell subpopulations demonstrated that CD4(+), CD8(+), and NK cells are all needed to mediate the full anti-angiogenetic effect of IL-12.

IL-6 is an in vitro and in vivo autocrine growth factor for middle T antigen-transformed endothelial cells.

Murine endothelial cells immortalized with the middle-size Ag of polyomavirus (PmT) cause vascular tumors in syngenic mice by recruitment of host normal endothelial cells. This pathogenic process is similar to that occurring in Kaposi's sarcoma, in which the core of the lesion is constituted by "spindle cells," which recruit normal vascular mesenchymal cells. In murine endothelial cells, PmT induces modification of the expression of genes, including that of IL-6. Since IL-6 is a pleiotrophic cytokine that also regulates endothelial cell functions related to angiogenesis, we studied the relevance of IL-6 in the tumorigenicity of PmT-endothelial cells. In vitro studies demonstrated that the spontaneous PmT-endothelial cell proliferation rate was slow during the first 6 days of culture and then increased rapidly and paralleled the IL-6 release. The addition of recombinant IL-6 during the first days of culture induced a marked proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. PmT-endothelial cells expressed on their surface a high-affinity binding site for IL-6 constituted by both IL-6Ralpha and gp130 transmembrane receptors. The growth-promoting effect of exogenous IL-6 or that released by PmT-endothelial cells was abrogated by mAbs anti-IL-6Ralpha, whereas a mAb recognizing the endothelial cell CD31 molecule was inactive. 15A7 mAb anti-murine IL-6Ralpha was also active in vivo, reducing the number of metastases forming after transplantation of PmT-endothelial cells in DBA/2 mice. 15A7 mAb also increased the survival of mice bearing vascular tumors. We conclude that IL-6 is involved in the progression of vascular tumors induced by PmT, and that the blockage of IL-6-mediated intercellular circuits could be useful in the management of human vascular tumors, including Kaposi's sarcoma.

Regulation of nitric oxide synthesis in uraemia.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a cell-to-cell mediator involved in the regulation of vascular tone and in the mechanisms of host defence. Since uraemic syndrome is characterized by abnormalities in blood pressure and flow and by impairment of white cell function, we studied the regulation of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity by uraemic plasma. We used three different cellular types having different levels of NOS activity: tEnd.1 murine endothelial cell line transformed by mT oncogene of polyomavirus had a high NOS activity and expressed endothelial-NOS (eNOS) and inducible-NOS (iNOS) isoforms; human endothelial cells from cord umbilical vein (HUVEC) had low enzymatic activity and expressed only eNOS; finally, J774 murine macrophage line was characterised by iNOS induced after treatment with cytokines. We demonstrated that most (79%) of end-stage uraemic plasma studied inhibited NOS activity in tEnd.1 and in cytokine induced -J774, whereas they were ineffective on HUVEC. Twenty percent of plasma samples (14 of 67) activated NOS activity in tEnd.1 and in J774 cells, but not in HUVEC, suggesting the presence of molecule(s) which influence iNOS. The effect of plasma was not dependent on the type of haemodialysis treatment. A great number of plasmas from patients with moderate renal failure also inhibited NOS activity in tEnd.1, suggesting that the accumulation of molecules affecting NOS was caused by the renal failure rather than the haemodialytic treatment. However, the haemodialysis modified the effect of plasmas on NOS activity. Plasma taken after haemodialysis session showed a reduced inhibitory activity in tEnd.1 and in some cases it enhanced NOS activity. Simultaneously, molecules reducing NOS activity accumulated in the ultrafiltrate. The plasma concentration of NG-NG dimethyl-L-arginine (asymmetrical dimethylarginine, ADMA), an inhibitor of NOS, increased in end-stage uraemic patients and was reduced by haemodialysis. However, the concentrations reached in uraemic plasmas were lower than the ADMA IC50 on tEnd.1 NOS, indicating that this compound contributes with other molecules to the inhibitory effect of uraemic plasma. Haemodialysis reduced also the enhanced effect exerted by some plasmas on NOS in J774. Therefore, the effect of end-stage uraemic plasma on NOS activity derive from the balance between inhibitors and activators.