Pulmonary surfactant protein A regulates TLR expression and activity in human macrophages

The pulmonary innate immune system responds to various airborne microbes. Although its specificity is broad and based on the recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns, it is uniquely regulated to limit inflammation and thereby prevent damage to the gas-exchanging alveoli. Macrophages, critical cell determinants of this system, recognize microbes through pattern recognition receptors such as TLRs, which typically mediate proinflammatory responses. The lung collectin, surfactant protein A (SP-A), has emerged as an important innate immune determinant that regulates microbe-macrophage interactions in this environment. In this study, we report the basal and SP-A-induced transcriptional and posttranslational regulation of TLR2 and TLR4 expression during the differentiation of primary human monocytes into macrophages. Despite SP-A's ability to up-regulate TLR2 expression on human macrophages, it dampens TLR2 and TLR4 signaling in these cells. SP-A decreases the phosphorylation of IkappaBalpha, a key regulator of NF-kappaB activity, and nuclear translocation of p65 which result in diminished TNF-alpha secretion in response to TLR ligands. SP-A also reduces the phosphorylation of TLR signaling proteins upstream of NF-kappaB, including members of the MAPK family. Finally, we report for the first time that SP-A decreases the phosphorylation of Akt, a major cell regulator of NF-kappaB and potentially MAPKs. These data identify a critical role for SP-A in modulating the lung inflammatory response by regulating macrophage TLR activity.