Effect of UV irradiation on expression of membrane IL 1 by rat macrophages.

The effect of UV-B irradiation on the expression of membrane-associated IL 1 (mIL 1) by rat pulmonary alveolar macrophages (PAM) was studied. We found that although there was an increase in secreted IL 1 by PAM exposed to UV-B, the expression of mIL 1 was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, PAM that were allowed to express mIL 1 before UV-B irradiation had a faster decay of mIL 1 activity than unirradiated cells. These data suggested that mIL 1 expression is inhibited by UV-B irradiation, and that under normal circumstances, mIL 1 synthesis and degradation is at a steady state, with the half-life of mIL 1 activity being 24 hr when assayed in an IL 1-dependent cell line proliferation assay. These data indicate that secreted forms of IL 1 and mIL 1 are differentially regulated and that the therapeutic effects of UV irradiation may be due to its inhibition of mIL 1 activity.