The activation of synovial mast cells: modulation of histamine release by tryptase and chymase and their inhibitors.

Mast cells have been implicated as having pivotal roles in arthritis, but little is known of the processes leading to the activation of synovial mast cells or their potential for pharmacological control. We have investigated the ability of tryptase and chymase, and inhibitors of these major mast cell proteases to modulate the activation of mast cells from human synovial tissue. The tryptase inhibitor drug N-(1-hydroxy-2-naphthoyl)-L-arginyl-L-prolinamide hydrochloride (APC366) inhibited immunoglobulin E (IgE)-dependent histamine release in a dose-dependent manner, with about 70% inhibition being achieved at a dose of 300 microM. Histamine release stimulated by calcium ionophore A23187 was also inhibited by this compound. The chymase inhibitor chymostatin inhibited IgE-dependent histamine release by approximately 60% at 1 microg/ml. Tryptase at concentrations of 3.0 microg/ml and greater stimulated histamine release from synovial cells, which was dependent on catalytic activity, whereas chymase had little effect on these cells. The activation of mast cells by tryptase may represent an amplification process in the synovium. The mast cell stabilising properties of inhibitors of tryptase and chymase could be of therapeutic value in arthritis.

Increased expression of connective tissue growth factor in fibrotic human liver and in activated hepatic stellate cells.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Connective tissue growth factor is a recently described mitogenic protein implicated in a variety of fibrotic disorders. Connective tissue growth factor may be a downstream mediator of the pro-fibrotic and mitogenic actions of transforming growth factor-beta, promoting extracellular matrix deposition and fibrogenesis. As transforming growth factor-beta is considered important to the pathogenesis of hepatic fibrosis, we examined the possible contribution of connective tissue growth factor to this process. METHODS: Connective tissue growth factor expression was examined in normal and fibrotic human and rat livers using RT-PCR and ribonuclease protection assays, and in primary cultures of rat hepatic stellate cells by Northern and Western blotting. RESULTS: Ribonuclease protection assays demonstrated connective tissue growth factor mRNA was increased 3-5-fold in human fibrotic liver compared with normal. RT-PCR showed this mRNA was increased in carbon-tetrachloride-treated rat liver. Northern analysis showed connective tissue growth factor mRNA was increasingly expressed during progressive activation of cultured rat hepatic stellate cells. Western analysis confirmed that freshly isolated hepatic stellate cells secreted relatively little connective tissue growth factor compared with hepatic stellate cells activated in culture. Hepatic stellate cells stimulated with transforming growth factor-beta showed increased expression of connective tissue growth factor mRNA and protein. CONCLUSIONS: Connective tissue growth factor mRNA is consistently upregulated in human liver cirrhosis of various aetiologies, supporting a role for this growth factor in hepatic fibrogenesis. Our studies suggest that hepatic stellate cells may be an important source of hepatic connective tissue growth factor in vivo, particularly following stimulation with transforming growth factor-beta.

Inhibitors of chymase as mast cell-stabilizing agents: contribution of chymase in the activation of human mast cells.

There has long been evidence that inhibitors of chymotryptic proteinases can inhibit the degranulation of rodent mast cells, but their actions on human mast cells and the contribution of mast cell chymase itself have received little attention. We investigated the ability of the selective chymase inhibitor Z-Ile-Glu-Pro-Phe-CO(2)Me and other proteinase inhibitors to inhibit chymase and cathepsin G activity, and we examined their potential to modulate the responsiveness of mast cells dispersed from human skin, lung, and tonsil tissues. IgE-dependent histamine release from skin mast cells was inhibited by up to about 80% after preincubation with Z-Ile-Glu-Pro-Phe- CO(2)Me (up to 0.1 microM), 70% with chymostatin (17 microM), and 60% with soybean trypsin inhibitor (0.5 microM). The mast cell-stabilizing properties of chymase inhibitors appeared to be greater for skin mast cells than for those from lung, whereas tonsil mast cells were relatively unresponsive. There were marked differences in the time course of responses to inhibitors, and the effect was dependent on the stimulus, with calcium ionophore-induced histamine release being unaffected. Incubation of dispersed skin, lung, or tonsil cells for up to 45 min with purified chymase failed to induce histamine release, although preincubation of cells with chymase was able to suppress IgE-dependent activation. Chymase could thus contribute to mast cell degranulation and after secretion could provide a feedback mechanism to limit this process. Nevertheless, inhibitors of chymase can be potent mast cell stabilizers, particularly in the skin.

Human and rat hepatic stellate cells produce stem cell factor: a possible mechanism for mast cell recruitment in liver fibrosis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Mast cell numbers are markedly increased in advanced liver fibrosis. Stem cell factor may recruit mast cells to the liver following injury as it induces mast cell proliferation, survival and differentiation from resident tissue precursors. This study examines stem cell factor production in human fibrotic liver and by hepatic stellate cells during culture in vitro. METHODS: Stem cell factor production was examined in human fibrotic livers by ELISA and in human and rat hepatic stellate cell cultures using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Northern blotting, Western blotting and immunocytochemistry. Co-culture studies examined adhesion between hepatic stellate cells and purified mast cells. RESULTS: RT-PCR showed stem cell factor mRNA was more consistently expressed in fibrotic human livers relative to normal, and ELISA confirmed this by showing stem cell factor protein was significantly increased 2-3-fold in homogenates of human cirrhotic liver (primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis) relative to normal. RT-PCR detected stem cell factor mRNA in human and rat hepatic stellate cells activated by culture on plastic. This was confirmed by Western blotting, which showed that freshly isolated hepatic stellate cells expressed relatively little 30 kD stem cell factor compared to late primary culture activated hepatic stellate cells (14 day) and passaged hepatic stellate cells. As assessed by fluorescence immunocytochemistry, stem cell factor protein was homogeneously expressed by populations of culture-activated rat hepatic stellate cells. During co-culture, purified human skin mast cells adhered to hepatic stellate cell monolayers on plastic, and this adherence was inhibited >50% by addition of antibodies against stem cell factor. CONCLUSIONS: Hepatic stellate cells activated in vitro produce stem cell factor. These cells may play an important role in recruiting mast cells to liver during injury and fibrosis.

Two distinct forms of human mast cell chymase--differences in affinity for heparin and in distribution in skin, heart, and other tissues.

Chymase, a chymotrypsin-like protease secreted by human mast cells, is generally considered to be a single enzyme. However, by heparin-agarose chromatography of high-salt extracts of human skin, we have consistently resolved three peaks of chymotryptic activity, eluting at 0.4 M NaCl (peak A), 1.0-1.2 M NaCl (peak B) and 1.8-2.0 M NaCl (peak C), with peak B containing 75-90% of the recovered activity. Each peak retained its identity upon rechromatography. The three peaks of activity were similar in substrate specificity and inhibitor profile and distinctly different from other chymotryptic enzymes, including cathepsin G and the stratum corneum chymotryptic enzyme. Examination of different tissues revealed that peak C was virtually absent from synovial tissue, was present as a minor component in skin and heart, but constituted the predominant chymotryptic activity in lung. Peaks B and C from skin tissue were further purified by chromatography on Sephacryl S-200. Both had a molecular mass of 28-29 kDa, yielded the N-terminal sequence reported for chymase, and on western blots reacted with a panel of polyclonal, monoclonal and antipeptide antibodies against chymase. Chymase C required higher concentrations of NaCl to overcome the stimulatory effects of heparin than did chymase B, but had a similar pH profile. Thus, human chymase exists in at least two distinct but similar forms, and the differences in heparin binding and tissue distribution could have important consequences for enzyme function.

A role for tryptase in the activation of human mast cells: modulation of histamine release by tryptase and inhibitors of tryptase.

Tryptase, the most abundant protein product of human mast cells is emerging as an important mediator and target for therapeutic intervention in allergic disease. We have investigated the potential of tryptase and inhibitors of tryptase to modulate histamine release from human mast cells. Addition of purified human tryptase in concentrations ranging from 1 to 100 mU/ml stimulated a concentration-dependent release of histamine from cells dispersed from tonsil, although not from skin tissue. The reaction dependent on an intact catalytic site being inhibited by heat inactivation of the enzyme, or by preincubating with the tryptase inhibitors APC366 or leupeptin or the tryptic substrate N-benzoyl-DL-arginine-p-nitroanilide (BAPNA). Tryptase-induced histamine release took approximately 6 min to reach completion, appeared to require exogenous calcium and magnesium, and on the basis of inhibition by antimycin A and 2-deoxy-D-glucose, seemed to be a noncytotoxic process. Pre-incubation of cells with tryptase at concentrations that were suboptimal for histamine release had little effect on their responsiveness to anti-immunoglobulin (Ig) E or to calcium ionophore A23187, but at higher concentrations their subsequent activation was inhibited. APC366 significantly inhibited histamine release induced by anti-IgE or calcium ionophore from both tonsil and skin cells, with up to 90% inhibition being observed at a concentration of 100 microM with skin. IgE-dependent histamine release was inhibited also by leupeptin, benzamidine and BAPNA. Tryptase may act as an amplification signal for mast cell activation, and this could account at least partly for the potent mast cell stabilizing properties of tryptase inhibitors.