Endothelial cell-derived foam cells fail to express adhesion molecules (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1) for monocytes.

The purpose of this study was to assess the expression of cell adhesion molecules ICAM-1 (intercellular adhesion molecule-1) and VCAM-1 (vascular cell adhesion molecule-1) in endothelial cell-derived foam cells. Hamster aortic endothelial cells (HAEC) in culture were exposed to hypercholesterolemic or normal homologous serum for 24 h. At the end of the incubation period, HAEC exposed to hypercholesterolemic serum exhibited numerous lipid droplets and had a general aspect of foam cells. When examined for the expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 (by indirect immunofluorescence) normal HAEC expressed constitutively (to low level) on their surface these adhesion molecules; however HAEC-derived foam cells failed to display any labeling. To further assess these results, HAEC were first incubated with normal or hypercholesterolemic sera (as above) and then exposed to freshly isolated normal hamster blood monocytes. These experiments showed that monocytes adhered in small number to normal cells and failed to adhere to the surface of HAEC-derived foam cells. Together these data indicate that endothelial cell-derived foam cells: a) do not express ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 on their surface; b) have low or no adhesion properties for monocytes and c) may represent an appropriate experimental model to study the cellular alterations that take place in the advanced stages of atherosclerosis.