Antagonism by ethanol of endotoxin-induced tissue factor activation in relation to the depressed endotoxin binding to monocyte-like U937 cells.

Our previous study has reported that ethanol (ETOH) partially inhibited the endotoxin (LPS)-induced tissue factor (TF)-activation in monocytes including blood peripheral monocytes as well as cultured leukemic U937 and THP-1 cells. The present study shows a strong correlation (r = 0.92; p < 0.01) between TF-activation and depression in LPS binding blocked by ETOH in U937 cells. The antagonism by ETOH of LPS binding was not due to a direct extracellular blockade, since ETOH did not affect the affinity of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-LPS or -anti CD14 mAb on U937 cells. After U937 cells were treated with 2 per cent (v/v) ETOH for 3 h, LPS binding was however drastically inhibited as shown by immunostaining with FITC-LPS which was viewed on a confocal laser scanning microscope. The results imply that cellular events of the ETOH effect mediate this inhibition of LPS binding. Anti-CD14 mAb (UCHM-1) inhibited LPS binding in a dose-dependent fashion, revealing a competitive specific binding to the LPS receptor. The results suggest that CD14 plays an important role in the recognition of LPS. FITC-UCHM-1 binding was significantly reduced in the cells pretreated with 2 per cent (v/v) ETOH for 3 h, indicating that ETOH modulates the ability to express CD14. CD14 expression was upregulated by priming with LPS which was offset by ETOH. Acetaldehyde, a possible metabolite of ETOH, was tested with no effect on CD14 expression. Taken together, our results show that ETOH downregulates the recognition of LPS, and suggest that the inhibitory action is likely to be mediated by the depression in CD14 expression which was also accompanied by a significantly altered membrane fluidity. Thus, the antagonism by ETOH of the binding of LPS results in a depression in the LPS-induced TF-activation.