Effects of nedocromil sodium on in vitro induced migration, activation, and mediator release from human granulocytes

Using the allergen-induced late-phase asthmatic reaction as a working model, we studied the activity of certain inflammatory cells and their reaction to nedocromil sodium. The processes that were examined in vitro included the following: the chemotaxis of purified neutrophils and eosinophils, the early steps of neutrophil and eosinophil activation, and the release of mediators from these cells. Nedocromil sodium strongly inhibited neutrophil mobilization caused by four chemotactic factors (zymosan activated serum, N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine platelet-activating factor [PAF], and leukotriene B4 [LTB4] and eosinophil mobilization caused by two factors (PAF and LTB4). In vitro treatment of eosinophils from normal subjects with picomolar concentrations of interleukin-3, interleukin-5, or granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor increased the chemotactic responsiveness toward PAF and LTB4 and induced a chemotactic responsiveness toward N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine and neutrophil activating factor/interleukin-8. The zymosan activated serum-induced chemotactic responsiveness remained unaltered. Nedocromil sodium inhibited the cytokine-primed chemotactic responsiveness to the various chemotaxins, not the influence of the cytokines on the cells. Activation of granulocytes, as measured by Ca2+ influx, was not inhibited by nedocromil sodium. Mediator formation in eosinophils was modified only slightly. These results suggest that inhibiting the mobilization of inflammatory cells in the lung tissue may be an important action of nedocromil sodium. Therefore these effects may be relevant to the treatment of asthma given the role of airway inflammation in this disease process.