The effect of interleukin-8 and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor on the response of neutrophils to formyl methionyl leucyl phenylalanine.

Neutrophils isolated from patients with chronic bronchitis and emphysema have been shown to have enhanced responses to formyl peptides when assessed in vitro compared to age, sex matched controls. It is currently unclear whether the observed differences are due to a 'priming' effect by a second agent in vivo, or whether this is a primary difference in the neutrophils. We have studied the effects of interleukin-8, which is thought to be one of the major pro-inflammatory cytokines in chronic lung disease and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GMCSF), in order to assess their effects on neutrophil chemotaxis and connective tissue degradation. In addition, we have assessed the effect of preincubation of these agents with neutrophils for 30 min followed by stimulation with F-Met-Leu-Phe (FMLP) to investigate any possible 'priming' effect that may be relevant to our clinical data. We report suppression of neutrophil chemotaxis to FMLP following incubation of the neutrophils with both IL-8 and GMCSF. However, we have observed an additive effect of IL-8 and FMLP for neutrophil degranulation leading to fibronectin degradation. The results suggest that IL-8 does not 'prime' neutrophils for subsequent FMLP stimulation as observed in vivo. Although the results for GMCSF were similar for the chemotactic response, the agent also had a synergistic effect on connective tissue degradation. However, it is concluded that neither agent could explain the enhanced neutrophil responses seen in our patients.