Differential regulation of interleukin-1 alpha and interleukin-1 beta mRNA expression in human monocytes: evidence for protein kinase C-dependent and -independent pathways.

The expression of mRNA coding for IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta was examined in human peripheral blood monocytes (PBM) to determine if the two genes are under the same mechanisms of transcriptional control and whether or not they can be regulated independently. In response to E. coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS), PBM express approximately 10-fold more IL-1 beta-specific mRNA than IL-1 alpha. However, treatment of these cells with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) resulted in the expression of IL-1 beta mRNA. Likewise, treatment of PBM with phorbol dibutyrate (PdBu), phorbol diacetate (PDA), or mezerein, which, similar to PMA, were able to induce the translocation of protein kinase C (PKc) to the monocyte plasma membrane, resulted in predominantly IL-1 beta mRNA expression. The inactive tumor promoter 4 alpha-phorbol didecanoate (4 alpha-PDD) did not cause the translocation of PKc or induce the expression of either form of IL-1 mRNA. Following 18 h pretreatment with PMA to downregulate PKc activity, LPS was capable of inducing the expression of both forms of IL-1 mRNA, demonstrating that at least part of the response of PBM to LPS is PKc independent. These results suggest that the activation of PKc alone is sufficient to induce a high level expression of IL-1 beta but not IL-1 alpha mRNA. Furthermore, the possibility exists that another, as yet unknown, signal transduction mechanism is involved in inducing the expression of both IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta mRNA in response to LPS.