SP-A1 and SP-A2 variants differentially enhance association of Pseudomonas aeruginosa with rat alveolar macrophages

AN Mikerov, TM Umstead, W Huang… - … of Physiology-Lung …, 2005 - journals.physiology.org
AN Mikerov, TM Umstead, W Huang, W Liu, DS Phelps, J Floros
American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular …, 2005journals.physiology.org
Chronic airway inflammation caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important feature of
cystic fibrosis (CF). Surfactant protein A (SP-A) enhances phagocytosis of P. aeruginosa.
Two genes, SP-A1 and SP-A2, encode human SP-A. We hypothesized that genetically
determined differences in the activity of SP-A1 and SP-A2 gene products exist. To test this,
we studied association of a nonmucoid P. aeruginosa strain (ATCC 39018) with rat alveolar
macrophages in the presence or absence of insect cell-expressed human SP-A variants. We …
Chronic airway inflammation caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important feature of cystic fibrosis (CF). Surfactant protein A (SP-A) enhances phagocytosis of P. aeruginosa. Two genes, SP-A1 and SP-A2, encode human SP-A. We hypothesized that genetically determined differences in the activity of SP-A1 and SP-A2 gene products exist. To test this, we studied association of a nonmucoid P. aeruginosa strain (ATCC 39018) with rat alveolar macrophages in the presence or absence of insect cell-expressed human SP-A variants. We used two trios, each consisting of SP-A1, SP-A2, and their coexpressed SP-A1/SP-A2 variants. We tested the 6A2 and 6A4 alleles (for SP-A1), the 1A0 and 1A alleles (for SP-A2), and their respective coexpressed SP-A1/SP-A2 gene products. After incubation of alveolar macrophages with P. aeruginosa in the presence of the SP-A variants at 37°C for 1 h, the cell association of bacteria was assessed by light microscopy analysis. We found 1) depending on SP-A concentration and variant, SP-A2 variants significantly increased the cell association more than the SP-A1 variants (the phagocytic index for SP-A1 was ∼52–95% of the SP-A2 activity); 2) coexpressed variants at certain concentrations were more active than single gene products; and 3) the phagocytic index for SP-A variants was ∼18–41% of the human SP-A from bronchoalveolar lavage. We conclude that human SP-A variants in vitro enhance association of P. aeruginosa with rat alveolar macrophages differentially and in a concentration-dependent manner, with SP-A2 variants having a higher activity compared with SP-A1 variants.
American Physiological Society