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(Journal of Leukocyte Biology. 2000;68:125-130.)
© 2000 by Society for Leukocyte Biology

IL-4 production by human polymorphonuclear neutrophils

Eric Brandt, Gaëtane Woerly, Amena Ben Younes, Sylvie Loiseau and Monique Capron

Unité INSERM U167, Institut Pasteur, Lille, France

Correspondence: Dr. Monique Capron, Unité INSERM U167, Institut Pasteur de Lille, 1 rue du Prof. Calmette, BP 245, 59019 Lille Cedex, France. E-mail: monique.capron{at}pasteur-lille.fr


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ABSTRACT
 
Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) are phagocytic cells, able to secrete a large range of cytokines, including inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, as well as the Th1 cytokines interferon-{gamma} (IFN-{gamma}) and interleukin (IL)-12. Although PMN do not seem to express IL-10 and IL-13, no information exists on the ability of PMN to produce IL-4. Therefore intracellular flow cytometry was performed in the presence or absence of Brefeldin A. Similarly to eosinophils, freshly isolated neutrophils from normal donors contained low amounts of IL-4, which significantly increased upon culture with Brefeldin A (P < 0001). Immunostaining performed on cytospin preparations of normal granulocytes confirmed the presence of intracellular IL-4. Using a highly sensitive ELISA, the levels of IL-4 secreted by cultured PMN and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were compared. PBMC secrete up to 60 times more IL-4 as PMN but, in the presence of calcium ionophore, only PMN showed a slight but significant increase in IL-4 secretion (P < 0.05). In conclusion, we report here the presence within human PMN of intracellular IL-4, which can at least partly be released under calcium ionophore stimulation. The relevance of this production of IL-4 by human PMN is discussed.

Key Words: eosinophils • intracellular flow cytometry • enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay


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INTRODUCTION
 
Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) are phagocytic cells massively recruited into areas of acute inflammation. In addition to phagocytosis, oxygen burst, and toxic granule release, PMN are also able to secrete a large range of cytokines [reviewed in ref. 1 ]. Most cytokines produced by PMN sustain the inflammatory response like the pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor {alpha} (TNF-{alpha}) and interleukin (IL)-1ß without omitting the numerous chemokines involved not only in neutrophil recruitment (IL-8, GRO{alpha}) but also in tissue infiltration by monocytes and T cells [monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1{alpha} and ß, IFN-{gamma}-inducible protein-10 (IP-10), MIG, and I-TAC] [1 2 3 4 5 ]. In vitro, the release of most of these pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines by PMN upon stimulation is increased in the presence of IFN-{gamma} and inhibited in the presence of IL-10 [1 ].

A type 1 cytokine pattern is classically associated with a cell-mediated immune response and the activation of phagocytosis by neutrophils and macrophages. In this context, recent reports suggest that PMN do also release IFN-{gamma} [6 ] as well as IL-12 [5 , 7 ]. In fact, a combination of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon-{gamma} (IFN-{gamma}) was reported to induce the synthesis of the IL-12 p40 and p35 subunits, as well as the secretion of p70, the heterodimeric IL-12 [7 ]. In turn, IL-12 is known to promote a Th1 response by increasing IFN-{gamma} secretion by T cells [8 ]. Although lymphocytes and monocyte/macrophages appear to be the main producers of these cytokines [8 ], the overwhelming presence of neutrophils in the peripheral blood and the fact that their activation leads to a massive tissue invasion and an enhanced survival, suggest that neutrophil-derived immunoregulatory cytokines may be of importance in the inflammatory process.

Clearance of infectious agents by neutrophils and macrophages is closely linked to the resolution of the local inflammation. Therefore, neutrophils are likely to participate in the down-regulation of the inflammatory response by releasing anti-inflammatory mediators like soluble TNF receptors or transforming growth factor ß (TGF-ß) [9 , 10 ]. In the presence of IL-4, the main type 2 cytokine, PMN is also reported to release large amounts of IL-1ra [11 ]. Although IL-10 and IL-13 synthesis has not been detected in PMN [12 ], no information exists on the ability of PMN to produce IL-4 [1 , 13 , 14 ]. Regarding the low levels of IL-4 released in PMN culture supernatants, we rather evaluated the intracellular accumulation of IL-4 in the presence of Brefeldin A. By using intracellular flow cytometry and immunostaining, we were able to demonstrate IL-4 production in neutrophils, ruling out, therefore, a possible contamination by other IL-4-producing cells, like T cells or eosinophils [13 , 14 ].


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MATERIALS AND METHODS
 
Reagents
Stock LPS (Escherichia coli 0111:B4; Sigma, St. Louis, MO) was prepared at a concentration of 10 µg/mL in RPMI 1640 (GIBCO-BRL, Grand Island, NY). Fetal calf serum (FCS) was from GIBCO (Paisley, UK) and Percoll was obtained from Pharmacia (Uppsala, Sweden). CD16 magnetic beads and the magnetic cell separation system (MACS) were from Miltenyi Biotec (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany). Calcium ionophore A23187, Brefeldin A, paraformaldehyde, and saponin were all purchased from Sigma. The phycoerythrin (PE)-conjugated mouse isotype control was from Dako (Glostrup, Denmark), whereas the PE-conjugated mouse anti-IL-4 (clone 8D4) was from PharMingen (San Diego, CA). The recombinant human IL-4 was obtained from Diaclone (Besançon, France). The recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and unlabeled anti-IL-4 monoclonal antibody were obtained from Sandoz (Basel, Switzerland). The isotype control, anti-Trypanosoma cruzi murine IgG1 was prepared in our laboratory. The mouse APAAP detection system was purchased from Dako.

Cell purification
Human peripheral blood PMN and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated from heparinized venous blood of healthy volunteers by Percoll density gradient centrifugation (d = 1.082 g/L). PBMC were recovered at the interface, whereas the pellet contained the granulocytes. Erythrocytes were lysed in a cold solution of 0.15 M NH4Cl, 0.01 M NaHCO3, and 0.01 M EDTA. The recovered cells were washed and resuspended in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Cell preparations with more than 95% neutrophils and an average of 2–4% eosinophils were routinely obtained. Both cell populations were further purified by positive and negative immunomagnetic selection, respectively, using anti-CD16-coated microbeads and the MACS system [15 ]. The final cell preparation contained over 99% neutrophils, whereas the eosinophil population was about 95% pure. All cell populations showed a viability of 95%, as assessed by trypan blue.

Intracellular flow cytometry
For intracellular staining freshly purified neutrophils and eosinophils were fixed with 2% paraformaldehyde for 15 min at room temperature. After washing in PBS, the granulocytes were resuspended in PBS containing 1% BSA and 0.5% Saponin (permeabilization buffer) for 10 min. The cells were preincubated with 5 µL normal mouse serum for 10 min in order to block nonspecific staining, and further incubated with PE-conjugated anti-IL-4 monoclonal antibody (5 µg/mL) or PE-conjugated control isotype (5 µg/mL) for 30 min. The cells were washed once in permeabilization buffer, once in PBS, and then resuspended in PBS-0.5% BSA before analysis. Samples were analyzed by flow cytometry on a Coulter Profil II cytometer (Coultronics, Hialeah, FL) using the EPICS software. Ten thousands events were usually acquired per sample. Thresholds were set on control stains.

To assess intracellular IL-4 accumulation, freshly purified granulocytes were cultured in the presence of Brefeldin A (10 µg/mL) for 18 h and cells were then processed for IL-4 staining as described above.

To control the specificity of the intracellular staining in PMN, PE-conjugated anti-IL-4 monoclonal antibodies were preincubated for 15 min with recombinant human IL-4 (10 µg/mL) or with an excess of an irrelevant cytokine (recombinant human GM-CSF at 50 µg/mL) before cell staining.

Immunocytochemistry
Cytospins of freshly purified granulocyte preparations were fixed in cold acetone/methanol (1:1) for 2 min and, after air drying, the slides were rehydrated in Tris-buffered saline (TBS) for 10 min. The alkaline phosphatase anti-alkaline phosphatase (APAAP) method was used for immunostaining [15 ]. After all incubation steps, cytospins were washed for 3 x 10 min in TBS containing 0.1% BSA. Briefly, after saturation with 3% BSA in TBS for 30 min, cytospins were incubated with unlabeled anti-human IL-4 or isotype control monoclonal antibodies at 40 µg/mL in TBS-3% BSA overnight at 4°C. The slides were then incubated with rabbit anti-mouse immunoglobulins (1:25) in TBS-3% BSA for 1 h at room temperature, followed by incubation with APAAP complex (1:40) for 1 h. After washing as before, followed by additional washes for 2 x 10 min in TBS, the reaction was developed with New Fuchsin substrate (Dako). The slides were counterstained with Mayer’s hematoxylin and mounted with Immu-mount (Shandon, Pittsburgh, PA).

Culture conditions
Culture medium consisted of RPMI 1640 supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated FCS, 2 mM L-glutamine, 100 IU/mL penicillin, and 100 µg/mL streptomycin. PBMC, PMN, and eosinophils were then incubated at 37°C, in a humidified atmosphere with 5% CO2 for 24 h. Freshly purified neutrophils were cultured for 18 instead of 24 h to avoid apoptosis [16 ]. PBMC and eosinophils were cultured in 24-well plates, at a concentration of 1 x 106 and 2 x 106 cells/mL, respectively, and neutrophils were cultured in 12-well plates at a concentration of 5 x 106 cells/mL/well.

For IL-4 accumulation experiments, neutrophils and eosinophils were cultured with Brefeldin A at a final concentration of 10 µg/mL.

For activation experiments, neutrophils and PBMC were cultured in the presence or absence of 1 µg/mL of calcium ionophore (A23187).

IL-4 measurements
To compare the levels of IL-4 released by PMN and PBMC, we used a very sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; Diaclone), according to the manufacturer’s recommended procedure. The levels of IL-4 released by most cultured PMN in the above conditions were within the range of the assay (0.2–3 pg/mL), but PBMC samples had to be diluted 10 times.

Statistical analysis
All results were assessed using the Student’s t test. Statistical significance was determined with a confidence level of at least 95%.


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RESULTS
 
Detection of intracellular IL-4 by flow cytometry
Freshly isolated PMNs from normal healthy donors were used to examine the intracellular expression of IL-4. Flow cytometry analysis was performed after cell permeabilization with saponin and intracellular staining with PE-labeled anti-human IL-4 monoclonal antibody (clone 8D4) or an isotype-related control antibody. Results of one representative experiment, shown in Figure 1A , illustrate the presence of IL-4 inside neutrophils. However, the amount of intracellular IL-4, as assessed by the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI), which reflects the level of binding of anti-IL-4 antibodies, was very low in freshly purified neutrophils (4.1 ± 0.7, n = 8).



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Figure 1. Flow cytometry analysis of intracellular IL-4 in cultured neutrophils (A–D) and eosinophils (E, F). (A) Detection of intracellular IL-4 in freshly purified PMN (solid line). (B) Detection of intracellular IL-4 in PMN cultured for 18 h in the presence of Brefeldin A (solid line). Similar results were observed with purified eosinophils (E and F). Competition assay: although a concentration of 50 µg/mL of recombinant human GM-CSF proved to be inefficient at blocking the IL-4 antibody (solid line, C), a concentration of 10 µg/mL of recombinant human IL-4 (solid line, D) was able to totally inhibit the intracellular fixation of the PE-conjugated IL-4 antibody. Staining with the isotype-related control Ab is represented by the dotted line for each experiment.

To further support IL-4 expression by neutrophils, cells were cultured for 18 h in the presence of Brefeldin A, a compound known to inhibit the intracellular protein transport and thus secretion. When submitted to intracellular IL-4 staining, two subpopulations of IL-4-producing neutrophils could be distinguished: one containing small amounts of IL-4 and the other, more heterogeneous, presenting intracellular IL-4 accumulation (Fig. 1B) . These two populations could not be differentiated by their side or forward scatter (data not shown). After culture with Brefeldin, the MFI was increased up to eightfold (33.6 ± 5.8, n = 8). The IL-4 specificity of PMN staining was controlled by incubating the PE-conjugated anti-human IL-4 antibody with recombinant human cytokines before flow cytometry staining (Fig. 1C and 1D) . An IL-4 concentration of 10 µg/mL was able to totally inhibit the intracellular staining of neutrophils cultured with Brefeldin A (Fig. 1D) , whereas the same preincubation with an irrelevant cytokine, recombinant human GM-CSF (50 µg/mL), was inefficient (Fig. 1C) .

Similar results were observed with purified eosinophils (Fig. 1E and 1F) , although the intensity of the staining in the case of eosinophils was less than for neutrophils (Fig. 1E ; MFI = 2.3 ± 1.7, n = 5), indicating that eosinophils from normal healthy donors expressed less IL-4 than neutrophils. Again, when cells were cultured in the presence of Brefeldin A, IL-4 was accumulating within eosinophils (Fig. 1F) . These results suggest that, similarly to eosinophils [17 18 19 20 21 ], neutrophils can produce IL-4. It is interesting that only the 8D4 clone of anti-IL-4 mAb and not the MP4-25D2 clone allowed the detection of intracellular IL-4 by flow cytometry, both in neutrophils and in eosinophils, suggesting some difference in the binding of anti-IL-4 mAb to granulocytes versus lymphocytes.

Kinetic study of intracellular IL-4 accumulation in cultured neutrophils
A strong accumulation of IL-4 within neutrophils was detected after culture in the presence of Brefeldin A, suggesting that the weak IL-4 expression observed on freshly purified cells was due to some IL-4 release from an intracellular store. Therefore we performed a kinetic study of the intracellular accumulation of IL-4 in the presence of Brefeldin A at 0, 6, 14, 18, and 22 h. As shown in Figure 2 , a time-dependent accumulation of IL-4 within the cells could be obtained, with a maximal accumulation being observed between 18 and 22 h. No significant variation in the isotype control peak was observed (Fig. 2 , dotted lines). These results were indicating that neutrophils and also eosinophils (Fig. 1F) could rapidly accumulate IL-4 and therefore participate actively in the immune response.



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Figure 2. Kinetic study of intracellular IL-4 accumulation in cultured PMN. Intracellular detection of IL-4 (solid line) in neutrophils by flow cytometry after 0, 6, 14, 18, and 22 h of culture in the presence of Brefeldin A (10 µg/mL). Staining with the isotype-related control Ab is represented by the dotted line. A representative experiment of the observed time-dependent accumulation of IL-4 in neutrophils is shown.

Immunodetection of IL-4 in granulocyte preparations
To further confirm the IL-4 staining observed by flow cytometric analysis on cell suspensions, cytospin preparations of freshly purified granulocytes from healthy donors were processed for immunocytochemical procedures through the use of the APAAP method and an anti-IL-4 monoclonal antibody from a different clone than the one used for FACS analysis [15 ]. As shown in Figure 3 , neutrophils exhibited an intense positive cytoplasmic staining for IL-4 (Fig. 3A) , whereas no staining was observed when cells were incubated with an irrelevant isotype control antibody (Fig. 3B) . It is interesting that eosinophils were either negative or weakly positive for IL-4, showing a more polar staining (Fig. 3A , arrow), again suggesting that IL-4 expression was different between the two granulocyte populations. These results obtained by immunocytochemistry on cytospin preparations confirmed the presence of IL-4 within neutrophils.



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Figure 3. Immunocytochemical detection of IL-4 in freshly purified granulocytes from normal donors (96% neutrophils and 4% eosinophils). Cytospin preparations were incubated with anti-IL-4 mAb (A) or murine IgG1 isotype control antibody (B), followed by detection with the APAAP method. All neutrophils showed a positive staining for IL-4, and only a minor proportion of eosinophils (arrow) were weakly positive. No staining was observed with an irrelevant isotype control. Original magnification x40.

IL-4 secretion by highly purified neutrophils
The demonstration that human neutrophils were expressing IL-4 led us to investigate whether this cytokine could be released upon cell activation. Preliminary experiments indicated that among other stimuli tested (including LPS, as well as GM-CSF, IL-13, TNF-{alpha}, and combinations of these with LPS), calcium ionophore proved to be the most efficient PMN activator to enhance cytokine release, as previously suggested [16 ]. Therefore PMN were cultured in the absence or in the presence of calcium ionophore (A23187) for 18 h, and IL-4 was measured in the supernatants through the use of a very sensitive ELISA assay (<0.2 pg/mL). The spontaneous release of IL-4 by nonstimulated neutrophils was barely detectable (Fig. 4 ). In fact, the amounts of IL-4 measured were so low that most of them (five out of eight) were below the detection limit of the ELISA. After stimulation with calcium ionophore, a significant increase in the release of IL-4 was observed (1.12 ± 1.09 pg/mL compared to 0.25 ± 0.19 pg/mL; P < 0.05).



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Figure 4. Quantification by ELISA of IL-4 released by cultured PBMC and purified neutrophils (PMN). The spontaneous release of IL-4 by highly purified (>99%) nonstimulated neutrophils (n = 8) and PBMC (n = 4) was compared after 18 and 24 h of culture, respectively. Although PBMC spontaneously release about 60 times more IL-4 as PMN (P < 0.005), after calcium ionophore stimulation (10 µg/mL), only PMN secreted significantly more IL-4 (P < 0.05). The dotted line represents the detection limit of the ELISA assay: 0.2 pg/mL.

To rule out that some contaminating cells could be responsible for this observed increase in IL-4 secretion, we also measured the levels of IL-4 released by PBMC (n = 4), the major source of IL-4. Because unstimulated PBMC released about 60 times more IL-4 (16.87 ± 13.75 pg/mL) than nonstimulated PMN (0.25 ± 0.19 pg/mL), this does not rule out a possible contamination of PMN by some lymphocytes. But because calcium ionophore is a poor activator of T cells, the increase in IL-4 release observed in PMN was not seen in PBMC (20.50 ± 17.13 pg/mL compared to 16.87 ± 13.75 pg/mL). Therefore these results suggest that upon stimulation with calcium ionophore, PMN could release low amounts of IL-4.


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DISCUSSION
 
In this study we were able to show that human neutrophils from normal donors are expressing intracellular IL-4. By using intracellular flow cytometry analysis, which is at the present time the most accurate approach available to assess the presence of low amounts of cytokines, we were able to detect IL-4 within neutrophils. Using this very sensitive assay, which allows individual cell investigations, we observed a time-dependent accumulation of IL-4 within neutrophils cultured in the presence of Brefeldin A, a substance known to inhibit the intracellular transport and secretion of proteins. Inhibition of the intracellular staining only after preincubation of anti-IL-4 Ab with recombinant human IL-4 and not with GM-CSF confirmed the specificity of the IL-4 staining.

As already shown by intracellular FACS analysis, freshly isolated eosinophils, another granulocyte population, seem to contain low levels of IL-4 [21 ]. It is interesting that, although not significantly, neutrophils presented a slightly higher intracellular staining for IL-4 than for eosinophils. Furthermore, intracellular FACS analysis performed with Brefeldin A showed a similar IL-4 accumulation in neutrophils and eosinophils. It has been hypothesized that the accumulation of intracellular IL-4 in eosinophils, only in the presence of Brefeldin A, suggested a continuous release of IL-4 by cultured eosinophils [21 ]. In accordance with this hypothesis, eosinophils cultured for 24 h with soluble IgA, IgG, or TNF-{alpha} all showed a decrease in intracellular IL-4 [20 ]. We suggest that this can also be true for neutrophils.

As demonstrated by Cassatella et al. for IL-12, immunoregulatory cytokines remain undetectable in PMN culture supernatants, unless the cells are stimulated with the right combination of mediators [7 ]. In the present work, neutrophils were stimulated with various combinations of LPS and cytokines or with calcium ionophore to induce the secretion of IL-4 (data not shown). Only calcium ionophore was able to induce IL-4 release by neutrophils, as previously shown for human eosinophils [17 ]. Although IL-4 production by eosinophils has been reported in a growing number of studies [17 18 19 20 21 ], none has detected IL-4 in the supernatant of eosinophils from normal donors (< 3 pg/mL for 106 eosinophils). This suggests that IL-4 released by eosinophils from normal donors do not represent an important source of IL-4. Therefore eosinophils were not included as comparison in the ELISA experiments. The detectable amounts of IL-4 released by cultured neutrophils were so low (about 1 pg/mL) that discriminating between IL-4 released by purified neutrophils or by contaminating PBMC appeared to be very difficult because T cells represent the major source of IL-4 [13 ]. Our results showed that unstimulated PBMC released, on a per cell basis, about 60 times more IL-4 than cultured neutrophils. However, after stimulation with calcium ionophore, which is a good inducer of cytokine secretion for granulocytes but not for lymphocytes, a significant increase in the release of IL-4 was only detected in the neutrophil population. Taken together these results suggest that neutrophils are able to release small amounts of IL-4 upon activation by calcium ionophore.

In vitro stimulation with LPS contributes to the secretion of different cytokines during the first 24 h of culture. However, few studies have addressed the question of time-dependent production and secretion of different cytokines or chemokines by the same PMN [3 , 4 , 22 ]. Even if the kinetics of mRNA synthesis are quite different from one cytokine to the other, they all lead to an increase in secretion within the first 24 h [3 ]. More surprising is the fact that, under these in vitro culture conditions, PMN could release both pro-inflammatory cytokines like TNF-{alpha} [23 ] and IL-1ß [22 ] and anti-inflammatory mediators like TNF receptors [9 ] and IL-1ra [11 ]. About three times more IL-1ra was released by LPS-stimulated PMN as IL-1ß [22 ]. Furthermore, under LPS or TNF-{alpha} stimulation, IL-4 favors IL-1ra secretion while inhibiting IL-1ß production by PMN [11 , 22 ]. The production of anti-inflammatory cytokines like IL-1ra in an inflammatory context (LPS, TNF-{alpha}), does favor the notion of a controlled release of inflammatory cytokines by PMN. It has been reported that neutrophils do release large amounts of IL-8 upon stimulation with LPS [24 ]. Because IL-8 has been shown to reduce the IL-4 synthesis by T cells [25 ], it might be possible that endogenous IL-8 could also regulate the production of IL-4 by neutrophils. This could explain the dichotomy observed between the low amounts released in the supernatant and the impressive increase in intracellular IL-4 observed in the presence of Brefeldin A. This compound not only blocks the release of IL-4 but also other cytokines like IL-8, which may down-regulate IL-4 under normal in vitro conditions.

Regarding the presence of mRNA encoding IL-4 in neutrophils, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and RNA protection assays have been performed. Whereas two rounds of PCR were needed to detect the amplified cDNA (data not shown), one cannot exclude that even a very low proportion of contaminating T cells could be responsible for the observed signal. Indeed, after a single round of PCR mRNA coding for the T cell receptor, CD3 could already be detected (data not shown). Because we needed 100 to 200 x 106 neutrophils to show IL-4 mRNA expression by RNA protection assay, a contamination by 0.5% of T cells would represent 0.5 to 1 x 106 cells: enough to produce a signal for IL-4 (data not shown). Furthermore, on a per cell basis, T cells contain more total RNA as neutrophils, terminally differentiated cells, the main function of which is not to produce cytokines but rather to take part in host defense through oxidative burst or phagocytosis. In fact, even for chemokines like IL-8 or GRO{alpha}, PMN do not appear to be the major source when compared to PBMC [26 ]. For IL-12 subunits p35 and p40 it has been possible to distinguish between synthesis by neutrophils or by contaminating monocytes due to diverging responses of these two populations to their stimulation [7 ]. Unfortunately, calcium ionophore is a poor inducer of mRNA synthesis and therefore not useful to distinguish between IL-4 mRNA production by PMN or contaminating PBMC.

In conclusion, the present results suggest that low amounts of IL-4 can be released by neutrophils upon activation. They also lead to the concept that, because neutrophils express the IL-4 receptor [27 ], IL-4 secreted by neutrophils, even in low amounts, could exert autocrine functions. Several studies have described the effect of IL-4 on neutrophil differentiation, activation, and survival [28 29 30 ]. In neutrophils, IL-4 can induce cytoskeletal rearrangements and de novo protein synthesis [30 ]. Furthermore, in an inflammatory environment, IL-4 does enhance neutrophil respiratory burst and phagocytic activities [30 ]. Even if IL-4 did not seem to reduce cell death at 48 h as assessed by trypan blue, during the first 18 h of culture IL-4 significantly delayed neutrophil apoptosis [30 , 31 ]. It is also interesting to speculate that autocrine IL-4 could partly inhibit IL-8 production by newly recruited neutrophils [32 ] and further stimulate IL-1ra release [11 ], leading to a down-regulation of the inflammatory process. However, most of these studies have been conducted in vitro with large amounts of IL-4. The in vivo picture, where multiple cytokines and adhesion molecules can interact, is likely to be somewhat different. Therefore future studies will have to assess the importance of autocrine and paracrine secretion of low levels of cytokines. Promising approaches could involve cytokine receptor activation and interaction studies as well as dissecting transduction pathways.


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 
This work was supported by the Institut Pasteur de Lille. We thank Sophie Nutten and Jean-Paul Papin for their support, and Charlotte Hemar for editorial help.

Received March 31, 1999; revised February 24, 2000; accepted February 25, 2000.


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