Temporally different stimulation of TNF-alpha and PGE2 release from GM-CSF-primed macrophages

Since granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) has previously been shown to activate macrophages, it was of particular interest to study its effect on synthesis and release of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha). GM-CSF alone was incapable of activating murine peritoneal macrophages to TNF-alpha release. However, in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), GM-CSF was found to prime macrophages for enhanced TNF-alpha production. This priming effect was short-lived and was superseded by the contrary, an unresponsiveness to LPS. The suppressed response was due to a delayed production of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) which did not affect GM-CSF-enhanced TNF-alpha gene transcription but blocked TNF-alpha production. When PGE2 synthesis was inhibited by indomethacin, the priming effect of GM-CSF was entirely reconstituted. Thus, GM-CSF initially primes for TNF-alpha and subsequently for PGE2 release which, taken together, may represent an autoregulatory feed-back system that could restrict macrophage activation.