Up-regulation of adhesion molecule expression in glomerular endothelial cells by anti-myeloperoxidase antibody

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody directed against myeloperoxidase (MPO-ANCA) has been implicated in pauci-immune crescentic glomerulonephritis. It stimulates primed neutrophils to adhere to glomerular endothelial cells (GECs), thereby releasing reactive oxygen and other toxic substances and ultimately damaging the GECs. Though, a pathogenic role for MPO-ANCA is not fully understood, we hypothesized that MPO-ANCA modulates GEC functions by the increases in expression of adhesion molecules.

A polyclonal rabbit anti-recombinant mouse MPO antibody (anti-rmMPO IgG) was evaluated in mouse GEC (mGEC) for its effect on adhesion molecule expression. The primary culture of mGEC was incubated with anti-rmMPO IgG or isotype control and the expression of intercellular adhesion molecules-1 (ICAM-1) was evaluated by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis and ICAM-1 cell ELISA.

The real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that a treatment with 100 microg/ml anti-rmMPO IgG increased the expression of mRNAs for ICAM-1, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 and E-selectin by approximately 12.5, 7.5 and 10.5-fold, respectively. ICAM-1 cell ELISA also substantiated increased expression of ICAM-1. This enhancement of ICAM-1 expression was mediated by the antigen specificity of anti-rmMPO IgG. In addition, there were several proteins in mGEC specifically immunoprecipitated with anti-rmMPO IgG.

These results showed that anti-MPO antibody activates not only neutrophils, but also GEC, indicating that anti-rmMPO IgG-induced direct activation of GEC contributes to neutrophil adhesion to GEC, thereby increasing glomerular neutrophil infiltration in initiation and progression of pauci-immune glomerulonephritis.