The kinetics of surface expression of CD11/CD18 integrins and CD54 on monocytes and macrophages

Cells of the macrophage lineage mediate extremely important normal functions of the immune system. Such functions are in part related to interactions between cell-bound LeuCAMs and their ligands. MoAb staining and flow cytometric analysis were used to follow changes in surface expression of LeuCAMs and the LFA-1 ligand CD54 during maturation of peripheral blood monocytes (BM) in vitro. Surface expression of these molecules increased on BM following isolation, the greatest increase being in CD54 and CD11c. Following an initial increase, there was a reduction in CD11a expression after 2 weeks in culture, this being greater on adherent compared with suspension-maintained cells. Expression of CD11b remained high throughout the culture period. LeuCAM and CD54 expression was further compared on freshly isolated alveolar macrophages (AM) and BM paired donors. A reciprocal relationship was observed between CD11c and CD11b on AM and BM, in that BM expressed higher levels of CD11b than CD11c, whilst the converse was true for AM. CD54 expression was also higher on AM than on BM, whilst there was no significant difference in expression of CD11a on these cells. These data suggest that consistent changes occur in the surface expression of the LeuCAMs and CD54 as monocytes mature into macrophages, which may reflect the specific functions of these cells.