Histamine degradative uptake by cultured human pulmonary vascular endothelial cells utilizes an inflammatory cell...

Neutrophil-endothelial interactions, altered clearance properties of the lung toward vasoactive mediators, and damaging effects of histamine that target the lung represent prominent elements of the inflammatory response at the systemic level. The pulmonary vasculature is unusual in that, unlike other tissues and vascular beds, it normally does not metabolize circulating histamine in vivo, although histamine-metabolizing enzyme activities have been detected in disrupted lung tissue. We have therefore explored the capability of human pulmonary artery endothelial cells in culture to express the receptor-mediated histamine degradative uptake system we previously defined in systemic endothelial cells (Haddock, R. C., Mack, P., Leal, S., and Baenziger, N. L. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 14395-14401). Pulmonary endothelial cells display all components of this system: histamine methyltransferase generating the proximal cell-associated metabolite tele-methylhistamine and receptors binding diamine oxidase which generates the distal product methylimidazoleacetic acid that is accumulated by the cells. A diamine oxidase released from human neutrophil granules by activation with Ca2+ ionophore binds pulmonary and systemic endothelial cell and fibroblast diamine oxidase receptors and, thereby, participates in histamine degradative uptake. This enzyme utilizes cell-associated tele-methylhistamine as a substrate, preferentially generating methylimidazoleacetic acid in addition to reactive oxygen species. Thus the enzymatic and interactive cellular machinery for histamine clearance is inherently present as a functional unit in two major human pulmonary cell types. It interacts with products of inflammatory host defense cells, and pulmonary endothelial-neutrophil interactions via this pathway may influence the progression of inflammation.