Tumor necrosis factor enhances susceptibility of vascular endothelial cells to neutrophil-mediated killing.

Tumor necrosis factor has a variety of effects on different types of cells in vitro, including endothelial cells. The current studies show that pretreatment of rat pulmonary artery endothelial cells with tumor necrosis factor increases in a time- and dose-dependent manner their sensitivity to killing by neutrophils stimulated with phorbol myristate acetate or C5a. Similar effects are seen with interleukin-1. These data suggest that tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-1 may have important pro-inflammatory effects on endothelial cells.