Dominant negative effect of TGF-beta1 and TNF-alpha on basal and IL-6-induced lipoprotein(a) and apolipoprotein(a) mRNA expression in primary monkey hepatocyte cultures.

Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] consists of apolipoprotein(a) [apo(a)] disulfide linked to apolipoprotein B-100 of LDL. Elevated plasma Lp(a) is an independent risk factor for a variety of vascular diseases. Lp(a) has been reported to be an acute-phase reactant, suggesting that cytokines may regulate its levels. To determine whether Lp(a) expression was subject to modulation by cytokines, primary monkey hepatocytes that endogenously express Lp(a) were used. Hepatocytes were treated with interleukin (IL)-6, the major mediator of the acute-phase response, and several other cytokines. IL-6 treatment (0.3 to 10 ng/mL) resulted in a marked, dose-dependent, 2- to 4-fold enhancement of Lp(a) accumulation in the hepatocyte culture media that was highly correlated with changes in apo(a) mRNA levels (r>0.9). Several other cytokines, such as IL-2, IL-8, and hepatocyte growth factor, had no significant effect on Lp(a) levels; however, transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) were very active in inhibiting Lp(a) accumulation in the culture media, with IC50s of approximately 0.3 and 1 ng/mL, respectively. Both TGF-beta1 and TNF-alpha also decreased the apo(a) transcript. Mixing experiments, in which hepatocytes were treated with 10 ng/mL of IL-6 and 0.3 to 10 ng/mL of TGF-beta1 or TNF-alpha, demonstrated that the IL-6-mediated induction of Lp(a) and apo(a) mRNA was ablated with very low levels of either inhibitory cytokine, suggesting a dominant negative effect of TGF-beta1 and TNF-alpha. These results show that Lp(a) and apo(a) mRNA expression in primary monkey hepatocytes is subject to both positive (IL-6) and negative (TGF-beta1 and TNF-alpha) regulation by physiological levels of cytokines. Thus, in vivo Lp(a) levels may be dependent on the balance between stimulatory and inhibitory cytokines.