Walther S, Beiras-Fernandez A, Csapo C, Münzing S, Stief C G, Hammer C, Reichart B, Thein E
Department of Cardiac Surgery, LM University Hospital, Munich, Germany.
Transplant Proc. 2010 Jun;42(5):1931-4. doi: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2009.11.038.
Polyclonal antithymocyte globulins (ATGs) are immunosuppressive agents applied for the treatment and prevention of organ rejection after transplantation. ATGs induce complement-mediated cell death in T lymphocytes and decrease leukocyte adhesion. However, little is known about the effects of ATGs on endothelial cells (EC). Our aim was to study the influence of ATGs upon the expression of adhesion molecules on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) after stimulation with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha.
HUVECs obtained from umbilical cords were incubated with ATGs before and after 6-hour stimulation with TNF-alpha. The group incubated without ATG served as the controls. Another group was not stimulated with TNF-alpha. By flow cytometry, we analyzed the expression of several adhesion molecules: intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1, vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM), platelet EC adhesion molecule (PECAM), and CD62E. Statistical analysis used analysis of variance.
After TNF-alpha stimulation, the EC surface expression of ICAM-1 and CD62E was reduced, although not significantly, in treated as compared with untreated cells. The expression of ICAM-1 and CD62E was similar in the unstimulated groups. The expression of VCAM, PECAM, CD55, and CD58 was not modified by ATG treatment.
Our results demonstrated that ATGs insignificantly reduced the expression of adhesion molecules in HUVECs. The effect of ATGs on stimulated HUVECs remains unclear, probably due to the lack of effector cells.
多克隆抗胸腺细胞球蛋白（ATG）是用于治疗和预防移植后器官排斥反应的免疫抑制剂。ATG可诱导T淋巴细胞发生补体介导的细胞死亡并减少白细胞黏附。然而，关于ATG对内皮细胞（EC）的影响却知之甚少。我们的目的是研究ATG对肿瘤坏死因子（TNF）-α刺激后人脐静脉内皮细胞（HUVEC）黏附分子表达的影响。
从脐带获取的HUVEC在TNF-α刺激6小时前后与ATG孵育。未用ATG孵育的组作为对照。另一组未用TNF-α刺激。通过流式细胞术，我们分析了几种黏附分子的表达：细胞间黏附分子（ICAM）-1、血管细胞黏附分子（VCAM）、血小板内皮细胞黏附分子（PECAM）和CD62E。统计分析采用方差分析。
TNF-α刺激后，与未处理细胞相比，处理后的细胞中ICAM-1和CD62E的内皮细胞表面表达虽有降低，但不显著。未刺激组中ICAM-1和CD62E的表达相似。VCAM、PECAM、CD55和CD58的表达未因ATG处理而改变。
我们的结果表明，ATG对HUVEC中黏附分子的表达有轻微降低作用。ATG对受刺激的HUVEC的影响仍不清楚，可能是由于缺乏效应细胞。
