Alford P B, Xue Y, Thai S F, Shackelford R E
Department of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, 27708, USA.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1998 Apr 7;245(1):185-9. doi: 10.1006/bbrc.1998.8400.
Maleylated-bovine serum albumin (maleyl-BSA) elicits transcription and secretion of a number of proinflammatory genes via ligation of the low-affinity scavenger receptor (SR) on macrophages. We now demonstrate that while neither maleyl-BSA, nor interferon-gamma (INF-gamma) alone induce nitric oxide (NO) production, when combined they promote release of NO from murine peritoneal macrophages. This effect was blocked by treatment with oxidized-low density lipoprotein. Maleyl-BSA activated NF-kappaB dimers capable of binding the NF-kappaBd sequence unique to the iNOS promoter, but this failed to induce significant new transcription or accumulation of iNOS mRNA. The combination of maleyl-BSA and IFN-gamma failed to demonstrate synergy at the transcriptional or mRNA levels, as these levels were comparable to those elicited by IFN-gamma alone. These studies suggest that the synergy in NO production between maleyl-BSA and IFN-gamma occurs after the accumulation of iNOS-specific mRNA, possibly at the translational or post-translational level.