Interleukin-8 (IL-8) receptors IL8RA and IL8RB (IL8RA/B) on neutrophil membranes bind to IL-8 with high affinity and play a critical role in neutrophil recruitment to sites of injury and inflammation. This study tested the hypothesis that administration of rat pulmonary arterial endothelial cells (ECs) overexpressing IL8RA/B can accelerate the adhesion of ECs to the injured lung and inhibit monoCrotaline-induced pulmonary inflammation, arterial thickening and hypertension, and right ventricular hypertrophy.
METHODS AND RESULTS:
The treatment groups included 10-week-old ovariectomized Sprague-Dawley rats that received subcutaneous injection of PBS (vehicle), a single injection of monoCrotaline (monoCrotaline alone, 60 mg/kg, SC), monoCrotaline followed by intravenous transfusion of ECs transduced with the empty adenoviral vector (null-EC), and monoCrotaline followed by intravenous transfusion of ECs overexpressing IL8RA/B (1.5 × 10(6) cells/rat). Two days or 4 weeks after monoCrotaline treatment, endothelial nitric oxide synthase, inducible nitric oxide synthase, cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-2β (IL-8 equivalent in rat), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 expression, neutrophil and macrophage infiltration into pulmonary arterioles, and arteriolar and alveolar morphology were measured by histological and immunohistochemical techniques. Proinflammatory cytokine/chemokine protein levels were measured by Multiplex rat-specific magnetic bead-based sandwich immunoassay in total lung homogenates. Transfusion of ECs overexpressing IL8RA/B significantly reduced monoCrotaline-induced neutrophil infiltration and proinflammatory mediator (IL-8, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, inducible nitric oxide synthase, cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant, and macrophage inflammatory protein-2) expression in lungs and pulmonary arterioles and alveoli, pulmonary arterial pressure, and pulmonary arterial and right ventricular hypertrophy and remodeling.
CONCLUSIONS:
These provocative findings suggest that targeted delivery of ECs overexpressing IL8RA/B is effective in repairing the injured pulmonary vasculature.
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