Abstract

We examined the effects of bacterial lipopolysaccharide and several recombinant human cytokines (tumor necrosis factor alpha and granulocyte-, macrophage-, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factors) on the expression of the genes for the phagocyte cytochrome b, an essential component of the superoxide-generating oxidase. In vitro treatment with lipopolysaccharide, tumor necrosis factor alpha, or macrophage- or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factors increased the levels of transcripts for the cytochrome b heavy chain (gp91phox) 9- to 22-fold and transcripts for the light chain (p22phox) 2- to 5-fold in cultured human monocyte-derived macrophages. The same agents, except for macrophage colony-stimulating factor, induced the expression of the cytochrome b heavy chain gene 2- to 12-fold and light chain gene 2- to 6-fold in human granulocytes. The expression of the cytochrome b heavy and light chain genes was coordinated in both macrophages and neutrophils with regard to stimulus specificity and dose-response pattern. The time course for induction of the two genes was parallel in both cell types for all stimuli. The macrophage response to lipopolysaccharide occurred at least in part at the transcriptional level. These results show that a variety of physiological regulators modulate the coordinated expression of the cytochrome b genes.