Role of tryptophan degradation in respiratory burst-independent antimicrobial activity of gamma interferon-stimulated human macrophages.

To determine whether extracellular tryptophan degradation represents an oxygen-independent antimicrobial mechanism, we examined the effect of exogenous tryptophan on the intracellular antimicrobial activity of gamma interferon (IFN-gamma)-stimulated human macrophages. IFN-gamma readily induced normal monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) to express indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) activity and stimulated MDM, alveolar macrophages, and oxidatively deficient chronic granulomatous disease MDM to degrade tryptophan. All IFN-gamma-activated, tryptophan-degrading macrophages killed or inhibited Toxoplasma gondii, Chlamydia psittaci, and Leishmania donovani. Although exogenous tryptophan partially reversed this activity, the increases in intracellular replication were variable for normal MDM (T. gondii [5-fold], C. psittaci [3-fold], L. donovani [2-fold]), chronic granulomatous disease MDM (T. gondii [2.5-fold], C. psittaci [5-fold]), and alveolar macrophages (T. gondii [1.5-fold], C. psittaci [1.5-fold]). In addition, IFN-alpha and IFN-beta also stimulated normal MDM to express IDO and degrade tryptophan but failed to induce antimicrobial activity, and IFN-gamma-treated mouse macrophages showed neither IDO activity nor tryptophan degradation but killed T. gondii and L. donovani. These results suggest that while tryptophan depletion contributes to the oxygen-independent antimicrobial effects of the activated human macrophage, in certain cytokine-stimulated cells, tryptophan degradation may be neither sufficient nor required for antimicrobial activity.

Suppression of macrophage antimicrobial activity by a tumor cell product.

Medium conditioned by tumor cells (TCM) and certain nonmalignant cells contains a trypsin-sensitive factor that suppresses macrophage oxidative metabolism. Because the killing of intracellular pathogens such as Toxoplasma gondii and Leishmania donovani by macrophages is largely oxygen-dependent, we tested the effect of TCM on the antiprotozoal activity of mouse peritoneal macrophages. After 24 hr of cultivation with TCM, in vivo and in vitro activated macrophages could no longer kill toxoplasmas or inhibit their replication. In vivo administration of TCM resulted in similar impairment. The leishmanicidal activity of resident and activated macrophages, when measured 6 hr after infection, was markedly suppressed by in vitro exposure to TCM. The addition of exogenous H2O2 in the form of glucose-glucose oxidase reconstituted the capacity of TCM-exposed macrophages to kill L. donovani promastigotes as quickly as control cells. Thus, TCM appears to deactivate macrophages by the functional criteria of suppressed antitoxoplasmal and antileishmanial activity, as well as by the biochemical criterion of suppressed oxidative metabolism.

Suppression of macrophage oxidative metabolism by products of malignant and nonmalignant cells.

Each of 11 tumors tested produced a factor that markedly suppressed the ability of macrophages to release H2O2 or O.2- in response to phorbol myristate acetate or zymosan. Four of seven normal cell types produced a similar activity, which was 3.5-7 times lower in titer than that in tumor cell-conditioned medium (TCM), and which was much more rapidly reversible in its effects. TCM caused 50% inhibition of H2O2 release when it was present in the medium for 48 h at a concentration of 13%, or when 100% TCM was present in the medium for 18 h. The H2O2-releasing capacity of macrophages incubated in TCM only returned to control levels by 6 d after its removal. TCM prevented augmentation of H2O2-releasing capacity by lymphokines. The titer of suppressive activity in TCM depended on both the concentration of tumor cells and the duration of their incubation. TCM did not augment the activity of catalase, myeloperoxidase, glutathione peroxidase, or glutathione reductase or the content of glutathione within macrophages, suggesting that decreased synthesis rather than increased catabolism was responsible for reduced secretion of H2O2. Suppression of the release of H2O2 or O.2- by TCM appeared to be a relatively specific effect, in that TCM increased macrophage spreading and adherence to glass while exerting little influence on rates of phagocytosis, synthesis of protein, or secretion of lysozyme, plasminogen activator, or arachidonic acid and its metabolites. Thus, tumor cells and some normal cells can secrete a factor that selectively deactivates macrophage oxidative metabolism.