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The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Vol. 84, No. 12 4645-4651
Copyright © 1999 by The Endocrine Society


Original Studies

Interleukin-10 Modifies the Effects of Interleukin-1ß and Tumor Necrosis Factor-{alpha} on the Activity and Expression of Prostaglandin H Synthase-2 and the NAD+-Dependent 15-Hydroxyprostaglandin Dehydrogenase in Cultured Term Human Villous Trophoblast and Chorion Trophoblast Cells1

F. Pomini2, A. Caruso and J. R. G. Challis

Medical Research Council Group in Fetal and Neonatal Health and Development, Department of Physiology, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Toronto (F.P., J.R.G.C.), Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4Y 1M8; and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (F.P., A.C.), Rome 00168, Italy

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. F. Pomini, Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, L.go A. Gemelli No. 8, Rome 00168, Italy. E-mail: fpomini{at}mix.it


    Abstract
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
The concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-{alpha} (TNF{alpha}) and interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), two inflammatory cytokines in amniotic fluid, have been shown to rise during chorioamnionitis. This is probably related to activation of the immune system in order to intensify the inflammatory process and to protect the maternal and fetal organism from infectious agents. These cytokines activate the PG biosynthetic pathway in several tissues, but few studies have examined effects on PG-metabolizing enzymes. When PGs are produced by increased synthesis and/or decreased metabolism at the chorio-decidual interface, labor can be induced. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is known to act as an antiinflammatory cytokine. The goals of this study were to evaluate the interaction of IL-10 with IL-1ß and TNF{alpha} on PG synthesis and to determine the effects of IL-10, IL-1ß, and TNF{alpha} on PG metabolism using purified cultures of villous trophoblast and chorion trophoblast cells prepared from placentas of patients at term. Cells were treated with IL-1ß and TNF{alpha} with or without IL-10 for various times up to 24 h. Levels of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) encoding PGH synthase-2 (PGHS-2) and NAD+-dependent 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (PGDH) were quantified by Northern blotting, and PGE2 and 13,14-dihydro-15-keto-PGF2{alpha} (PGFM) output in the medium was measured by RIA. IL-1ß increased PGHS-2 mRNA and PGE2 output from villous and chorion trophoblasts and decreased PGDH mRNA in villous trophoblasts (all P < 0.05). These effects were reversed by IL-10. We found no change in PGHS-2 mRNA or PGE2 output in either trophoblast type treated with TNF{alpha}, but TNF{alpha} reduced PGDH mRNA in villous trophoblast, and this effect was reversed by IL-10 (both P < 0.05). We conclude that proinflammatory cytokines can influence PG output through effects on PG synthesis and metabolism and that these effects may be opposed by an antiinflammatory cytokine. These interactions may be important in the progression of preterm labor with underlying infection and in term labor in regions of the uterus where cytokine production is increased.


    Introduction
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
TUMOR NECROSIS factor-{alpha} (TNF{alpha}) and interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) are two cytokines associated with inflammatory processes (1, 2). They are produced at basal levels by several fetal and maternal tissues (3, 4), and their concentrations in amniotic fluid are increased in clinical or subclinical chorioamnionitis (5, 6). These cytokines influence not only the immune response, but can also activate the PG biosynthetic pathway in several feto-maternal tissues (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21). Few studies, however, have examined their effects on key PG-metabolizing enzymes (22). When PGs are produced at the feto-maternal (chorio-decidual) interface, labor can be induced.

IL-10 has been commonly characterized as an antiinflammatory cytokine, acting on neutrophils and reducing the effect of proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-12 and IL-6 (23, 24). The effects of IL-10 on TNF{alpha} are less clear, because IL-10 has been shown to raise the production of the TNF{alpha} surface and soluble receptors, the former amplifying TNF{alpha} action, the latter reducing its effects (25). Recently, IL-10 has been shown to reduce PG production by down-regulating the inducible PGHS-2 isoform in stimulated neutrophils (26). Because IL-10 is normally produced by some fetal and maternal tissues (27, 28), it was hypothesized that it could play an important role in modulating cytokine-induced PG output during infection-associated preterm labor and in regions of the uterus, such as the lower segment, in labor at term.

The action of PG on the myometrium and cervix could result in part from the relative activities of PG-synthesizing and -metabolizing enzymes (29). Characteristics of key PG metabolic enzymes have been described in detail (30), and the NAD+-dependent 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (PGDH) enzyme occupies a crucial role (30). This enzyme is expressed in placental syncytiotrophoblast and in chorionic trophoblast cells. The activity of PGDH in the chorion is reduced in 10–15% of idiopathic preterm labor (31) and in many cases of infection-associated preterm labor (32). Furthermore, PGDH expression and activity are lower in chorion obtained at term from the region of the internal cervical os (33), a potential region of increased production of cytokine. We therefore determined the effects of proinflammatory cytokines, IL-1ß and TNF{alpha}, on PG synthesis and metabolism in trophoblast cells prepared from chorion and placenta from patients at term and evaluated whether the antiinflammatory IL-10 can reverse the effects of IL-1ß and TNF{alpha} on the PG biosynthetic and metabolic pathway.


    Materials and Methods
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Collection of fetal membranes and placentas

Four placentas were collected from term (>37 weeks gestational age) normal pregnancies. Exclusion criteria were multiple pregnancy, induction of labor with PG, treatment with any PGHS inhibitor during the 3-week period before admission to the hospital, and/or patient had not been routinely followed in the Perinatology Division of Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto, Canada). None of the patients was positive for group B streptococcus at the prenatal screening. Informed consent was obtained from all patients.

Membranes and placentas were harvested under strictly sterile conditions during all of the procedures. Immediately after placental expulsion, the chorion was bluntly separated from the amnion, cut around the placental margins, and immersed in sterile cold saline. Pieces of placental villi were also cut from the maternal side and immersed in cold sterile saline. The placenta and chorion were then taken to the laboratory for further processing. The mean time between expulsion of the placenta and the start of processing of the tissue was 35 ± 9 (±SEM) min.

Cell culture

Villous trophoblast and chorion trophoblast cells were isolated and cultured using a modification of the technique described by Kliman et al. (34) as published previously (32, 35). Approximately 60 g cotyledon tissue were digested with 0.125% trypsin (Life Technologies, Inc., Grand Island, NY) and 0.02% deoxyribonuclease I (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) in DMEM (Life Technologies, Inc.) containing 0.05% gentamicin sulfate (Life Technologies, Inc.), three times for 30 min each time. The chorion, after the removal of decidua and blood clot, was digested three times for 60 min each time with the same digestion medium supplemented with 0.2% collagenase (Sigma). The dispersed villous or chorio-decidua cells were filtered through a 200-µm pore size nylon gauze and loaded onto a 42-mL preformed discontinuous Percoll (Sigma) gradient of 5–70% in 5% steps of 3 mL each, then centrifuged at room temperature (1200 x g) for 20 min. Cells between the density marker beads (Sigma) of 1.049 and 1.062 g/mL were collected and counted with a hemocytometer in the presence of 50% trypan blue to assess viability (35). The cells were then plated in 24-well plates (Corning, Costar, Cambridge, MA) at a density of 1,000,000 cells/mL·well, in 100-mm petri dishes (Corning) at a density of 15,000,000 cells/15 mL·dish, or in 8-chamber slides at a density of 500,000 cells/0.5 mL·well in DMEM culture medium containing 10% FCS (Life Technologies, Inc.) and 0.05% gentamicin sulfate. Cells were then cultured for 5 days at 37 C in 5% CO2 and 95% air before treatment. All of the preparations of chorion and villous cells were examined daily with an inverted microscope to ensure that they were free of contamination or infection.

Treatment

After 5 days, most of the villous trophoblast cells had aggregated to form a syncytium. Chorion and placenta cells were then washed with FCS-free medium equilibrated at 37 C containing 1) medium alone, 2) IL-1ß (recombinant human IL-1ß, 1 ng/mL; R & D Systems, Minneapolis, MN), 3) TNF{alpha} (recombinant human TNF{alpha}; 10 ng/mL; R & D Systems), 4) IL-10 (recombinant human IL-10; 5 ng/mL; R & D Systems), 5) IL-1ß (1 ng/mL) and IL-10 (5 ng/mL), and 6) TNF{alpha} (10 ng/mL) and IL-10 (5 ng/mL). At successive time points (2, 4, 8, and 24 h) the medium was collected, frozen, and stored at -80 C for further analysis. Separate wells were used for each time point. Cells in the petri dishes were treated for 4 h only, as not enough cells could be collected for every treatment for each time point. After the medium had been collected, some of the chorion and villous cells were treated at 37 C with fresh medium containing 50% trypan blue and then immediately checked for cell viability. For both chorion and villous cultures, mean viability was always more than 90%. Representative cultures on the day of treatment were stained with cytokeratin (DAKO Corp., Santa Barbara, CA) at a dilution of 1:1000, or with vimentin (DAKO Corp.) at a dilution of 1:100 to determine the proportion of immunopositive cells (35, 36). Cells were counterstained with Carazzi’s hematoxylin. Both placental and chorion cultures were predominantly cytokeratin positive (>90% and > 80%, respectively) and vimentin negative. Similar results were obtained for the different cell preparations.

RIA

The activity of PGDH was assessed by measuring the 13,14-dihydro-15-keto metabolite of PGF2{alpha} (PGFM) content in duplicate aliquots of the collected medium, as previously described (35), using a specific PGFM antiserum (1:1500 dilution; Oxford Biomedical, Oxford, MI). Unknown sample values were determined using the Four Parameter Computer Program (P. Munson, D. Rodbard, and M. L. Jaffe, version 4.0). The concentration of PGE2 in the medium was assayed with a similar procedure, using a PGE2 antiserum (1:4000 dilution; Oxford Biomedical) and [3H]PGE2 (Amersham International, Aylesbury, UK). Previous studies showed that PGE2 was the principle primary PG produced by these cells in culture. The mean intra- and interassay coefficients of variation were 6.6% and 9.2% for PGE2, and 4.5% and 12.4% for the PGFM RIAs. Assay sensitivity was routinely approximately 15 pg/tube for PGE2 and 20 pg/tube for PGFM.

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) extraction and Northern blotting

The cells in the petri dishes were mechanically dispersed by scraping for 1 min in the presence of Trizol reagent (2 mL; Life Technologies, Inc.) and then incubating for 5 min. In preliminary experiments (unpublished data) we determined that 2 mL Trizol reagent were sufficient to obtain a suitable yield (OD260/280nm, >1.6) of the total RNA extracted from the chorion and villous cells plated in the petri dishes. The rest of the procedures followed the manufacturer’s instructions, except that the incubation with isopropyl alcohol was performed at 4 C for 20 min. The RNA concentration and the purity of each sample were determined by measuring the absorbance at 260 nm and evaluating the 260:280 nm ratio (Ultrospec 2000, Pharmacia Biotech, Baie d’Urfe, Canada); samples were then stored at -80 C in 75% ethanol. Northern blotting was subsequently performed as follows. Thirty micrograms of extracted total cellular RNA plus one RNA ladder (Life Technologies, Inc.) were size fractionated by horizontal electrophoresis (Horizon 20x25, Life Technologies, Inc.) in a 1.2% agarose/formaldehyde gel and transferred to a nylon membrane (Z-Probe Blotting Membrane, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Mississauga, Canada). The blots were then hybridized using an 800-bp fragment of the PGDH complementary DNA (cDNA) sequence as probe (32). The fragment was labeled with {alpha}-[32P]deoxy-CTP (Amersham International) using the random priming method (Ready to Go, Pharmacia-Biotech) and was separated from unincorporated oligonucleotides by passing it through a nick column (Pharmacia Biotech). After autoradiographic exposure, the blots were stripped and reprobed with a cDNA to human PGHS-2 (Oxford Biomedical) labeled as outlined above. After autoradiographic exposure, the blots were stripped again and reprobed with a cDNA to mouse 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) to allow for correction of variations in gel loading and transfer. The relative optical densities (ROD) were determined using computerized image analysis (MCID, Imaging Research, Inc., St. Catherines, Canada). The values for ROD were determined after different exposure times to ensure that values were obtained within the linear range of the autoradiographic film. Results are expressed as the ratio of the RODs of the PGDH or PGHS-2 messenger RNA (mRNA):18S rRNA hybridization signals.

Data analysis

The shape of the distribution of the variables was tested with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov-Lilliefors test. ANOVA and the ANOVA for repeated measures were used to compare the results before and after treatments and the effects of IL-10; when only two variables were analyzed, two-tailed paired and unpaired Student’s t test were used. Only if both paired and unpaired tests resulted in P < 0.05 was the difference considered significant. Rank transformation was used when necessary. Power analysis was performed after each comparison and reported when 1-ß < 0.8. SigmaStat 1.0 for Windows (Jandel Scientific Software, San Rafael, CA) and Cricket Graph 1.3.1 for Macintosh (Cricket Software) were used for the analysis and graphing of the data. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM.


    Results
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Effects of IL-1ß and IL-10 on villous trophoblast PGHS-2 expression and PGE2 output

PGHS-2 mRNA was present as a major 4.4-kb transcript by Northern blot. After incubation with IL-1ß for 4 h, the PGHS-2/18S ratio increased significantly by 71% (P < 0.01; Fig. 1Go). Treatment with IL-10 increased the PGHS-2/18S ratio by 36% (P < 0.02; Fig. 1Go), whereas treatment with IL-10 and IL-1ß together resulted in a reduction in the PGHS-2/18S ratio (P < 0.02) from values seen after IL-1ß treatment.



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Figure 1. PGHS-2 mRNA and 18S rRNA levels in villous trophoblast cultured cells measured by Northern blot analysis. Cells from each patient (n = 4: A–D) were treated for 4 h with 1) medium alone (control), 2) IL-10 (5 ng/mL), 3) IL-1ß (1 ng/mL), and 4) IL-1ß (1 ng/mL) and IL-10 (5 ng/mL). Lower panel, Histogram of PGHS-2 mRNA/18S rRNA density ratio. Each bar represents the mean and SEM of four patients (A–D in upper panel). *, P < 0.05 vs. control; #, P < 0.05 vs. IL-1ß.

 
PGE2 output into the medium rose significantly (P < 0.01) after treatment with IL-1ß at 4 h (175%), 8 h (120%), and 24 h (233%) compared to the control value (Fig. 2Go). IL-10 alone had no significant effect on PGE2 output, but combined IL-1ß and IL-10 treatment produced lower PGE2 output at 8 and 24 h (P < 0.05) compared to the effects of IL-1ß alone.



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Figure 2. Time course of PGE2 production by villous trophoblast cultured cells under various treatments. Results are expressed as nanograms per mL medium/1,000,000 plated cells. Each bar represents the mean ± SEM of four patients, each treated in triplicate. Different aliquots were used for each time point. *, P < 0.05 vs. control; #, P < 0.05 vs. IL-1ß.

 
Effects of IL-1ß and IL-10 on villous trophoblast PGDH expression and PGFM output

The PGDH cDNA hybridized with two species of mRNA of 2.0 and 3.4 kb as reported previously (31). Addition of IL-1ß led to a modest (18%) reduction in levels of PGDH mRNA (P < 0.05; Fig. 3Go). IL-10 alone had no effect on PGDH mRNA, but prevented the decline in PGDH mRNA seen after the addition of IL-1ß (Fig. 3Go).



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Figure 3. PGDH mRNA and 18S rRNA levels in villous trophoblast cultured cells measured by Northern blot analysis. Cells from each patient (n = 4: A–D) were treated for 4 h with 1) medium alone (control), 2) IL-10 (5 ng/mL), 3) IL-1ß (1 ng/mL), and 4) IL-1ß (1 ng/mL) and IL-10 (5 ng/mL). Lower panel, Histogram of PGDH mRNA/18S rRNA density ratio. Each bar represents the mean and SEM of four patients (A–D in upper panel). *, P < 0.05 vs. control; #, P < 0.01 vs. IL-1ß.

 
IL-1ß-treated cells showed a trend toward increasing PGFM output over time, and significance was achieved after 24 h (151%; P < 0.01). No significant differences in PGFM output were found at any time point after treatment with IL-10 alone or with IL-1ß and IL-10 (data not shown).

Effects of TNF{alpha} on villous trophoblast PGHD-2 and PGDH expression and on PGE2 and PGFM output

We did not find significant effects of TNF{alpha} on levels of PGHS-2 mRNA or on output of PGE2 (data not shown), nor were there any significant interactions of TNF{alpha} with IL-10 on these measurements. TNF{alpha} produced a modest (10%), but statistically significant (P < 0.05; Fig. 4Go), decrease in levels of PGDH mRNA compared to those in control cultures and those in cultures treated with TNF{alpha} and IL-10, which were not different (P > 0.05) from the control values (Fig. 4Go). PGFM output tended to be lower in cultures treated with TNF{alpha} at each time point, but the mean values were not statistically different from the control (P > 0.05).



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Figure 4. PGDH mRNA and 18S rRNA levels in villous trophoblast cultured cells measured by Northern blot analysis. Cells from each patient (n = 4; A–D,) were treated for 4 h with 1) medium alone (control), 2) IL-10 (5 ng/mL), 3) TNF{alpha} (10 ng/mL), and 4) TNF{alpha} (10 ng/mL) and IL-10 (5 ng/mL). Lower panel, Histogram of PGDH mRNA/18S rRNA density ratio. Each bar represents the mean and SEM of four patients (A–D in upper panel). *, P < 0.05 vs. control; #, P < 0.01 vs. TNF.

 
Effects of IL-1ß, IL-10, and TNF{alpha} on chorion trophoblast PGHS-2 and PGDH expression and on PGE2 and PGFM output

IL-1ß stimulated a significant increase (285%) in PGHS-2 mRNA levels in chorion trophoblast cells (P < 0.02; Fig. 5Go), but this effect was not altered significantly in the presence of IL-10. There were no significant effects of 4-h treatments with TNF{alpha} or IL-10 alone or with TNF{alpha} plus IL-10 on PGHS-2 mRNA in chorion trophoblasts.



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Figure 5. PGHS-2 mRNA and 18S rRNA levels in chorion trophoblast cultured cells measured by Northern blot analysis. Cells from each patient (n = 4; A–D) were treated for 4 h with 1) medium alone (control), 2) IL-10 (5 ng/mL), 3) IL-1ß (1 ng/mL), 4) IL-1ß (1 ng/mL) and IL-10 (5 ng/mL), 5) TNF{alpha} (10 ng/mL), and 6) TNF{alpha} (10 ng/mL) and IL-10 (5 ng/mL). Lower panel, Histogram of PGHS-2 mRNA/18S ratio. Each bar represents the mean and SEM of four patients (A–D in upper panel). *, P < 0.05 vs. control.

 
The increase in PGHS-2 mRNA after IL-1 was reflected in a time-dependent increase (221% at 24 h) in the output of PGE2 from chorion trophoblasts (P < 0.02; Fig. 6Go) that was unaffected by the presence of IL-10. We found no significant effect of any of the cytokines on levels of PGDH mRNA in chorion cells or in PGFM output from chorion cell cultures for up to 24 h (data not shown).



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Figure 6. Time course of PGE2 production by chorion trophoblast cultured cells under various treatments. Results are expressed as nanograms per mL of medium/1,000,000 plated cells. Each bar represents the mean ± SEM of four patients treated in triplicate. Different aliquots were used for each time point. *, P < 0.05 vs. control.

 

    Discussion
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
It is well known that cytokines up-regulate the expression of PGHS-2 enzyme and increase the synthesis of PGE2 by responsive cells (2, 7, 12). We have substantiated these observations for cultures of villous and chorion trophoblast cells, with respect to the effects of IL-1ß and output of PGE2. In addition, we report that Il-1ß decreases the expression of the PG-metabolizing enzyme, PGDH, by villous trophoblasts and suggest that this may contribute to the increased output of primary PGE2 by the cells. Further, these effects of IL-1ß on PGHS-2 and PGDH were antagonized by the antiinflammatory cytokine IL-10, suggesting that in vivo cytokine effects on net PG output represent the balance between actions on PG synthesis and metabolizing enzymes as well as interactive effects of different types of cytokines (8, 9, 22). Obviously, these activities are further modified by other regulatory agents (29).

Our preparations of villous and chorion trophoblasts were characterized by cytokeratin and vimentin staining as discussed previously (35), and the cells are predominantly cytokeratin positive. However, in chorion and placenta, PGHS-2 has been localized by immunostaining to fibroblasts and macrophages in addition to trophoblasts (37, 38). Therefore, we cannot conclusively determine that trophoblasts are the only responsive cell type. Resolution of this issue will require extremely pure cell preparations and localization of IL-1ß receptor to these cells (9). We found that IL-1ß not only increased PGHS-2 expression, but also decreased, modestly, levels of PGDH mRNA. Previous studies have localized PGDH predominantly to trophoblast in chorion and to syncytiotrophoblast and intermediate trophoblasts of the placental villi (31, 32). Double labeling studies will be required to determine the extent to which PGHS-2 and PGDH are localized to the same cells or to adjacent cells in vivo and, hence, whether cytokines such as IL-1ß might simultaneously affect both PG synthesis and metabolic pathways in the same or adjacent cells. Current evidence indicates that PGHS-2 may be localized to the nuclear envelope and to the endoplasmic reticulum of responsive cells (39, 40), whereas PGDH is predominantly cytosolic (30). Thus, even within the same cell there is likely to be compartmentalization of the downstream effects of cytokine.

Keelan et al. (22) reported recently that PGDH mRNA levels were reduced to 25% of the control level in trophoblast cells treated with IL-1ß, a greater degree of inhibition, but a similar pattern as in the present study. Despite this finding, our results show that the output of both PGE2 and PGFM from villous trophoblasts rose during exposure to IL-1ß. We suggest that stimulation of PG synthesis provides more substrate for PGDH so that PGFM output continues to rise even though PGDH mRNA levels have decreased. In addition, changes in steady state levels of PGDH mRNA may not parallel changes in PGDH protein or enzyme activity, such that PGDH protein levels may still be elevated despite lowered levels of its mRNA. As the Km of PGDH for PGE2 and PGF2{alpha} range from 30–130 µmol/L (30), much greater than the concentration of PG in the medium, up-regulation of PGHS-2 is likely to be more important than down-regulation of PGDH. In unpublished studies we found that the effects of IL-1ß on PGHS-2 and PGDH were dose dependent. Further studies are needed to elucidate differences in synthesis and metabolism of PG at different concentrations of exogenous IL-1ß and to relate these to the endogenous production of cytokines by the cell populations in culture.

We found no effect of IL-1ß on PGDH mRNA levels or PGFM output by purified chorion trophoblast cells, in contrast to the effects on villous trophoblasts. Brown et al. (41) also reported the lack of an IL-1ß effect on PGDH activity in disks of full thickness membranes maintained in culture. In contrast to the report of Keelan et al. (22), in which inhibition of PGDH mRNA was similar after IL-1ß and TNF{alpha} treatment, we found only minimal, although significant, reduction of PGDH mRNA in villous trophoblasts treated with TNF{alpha} and no effect of TNF{alpha} on levels of mRNA encoding PGDH or PGHS-2 in chorion trophoblasts. This result was also surprising given that several previous reports have shown increased PG output from amnion WISH cells, first trimester human trophoblasts, and term chorion trophoblasts treated with TNF{alpha} (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21). We presume that differences in culture technique and/or conditions, particularly the time at which tissue was collected, in earlier studies in relation to labor or the availability of soluble TNF{alpha} receptor to mediate its activity may account for this variation.

Addition of IL-10 to villous trophoblast cultures treated with IL-1ß attenuated the up-regulation of PGHS-2 and the output of PGE2 and reversed the reduction in PGDH mRNA levels seen in response to the proinflammatory cytokine. Opposing effects of proinflammatory and antiinflammatory cytokines on PGHS expression and PG output have been reported previously. Our finding that the effects of IL-1ß on PG synthesis and metabolism can be attenuated or reversed by IL-10 suggests that the interaction between different cytokines and eicosanoids in vivo will be very difficult to evaluate from in vitro studies in which precise combinations of two or three different compounds are added to cells in culture. A nuclear factor-IL-6 regulatory element has been identified in the upstream promoter region of the PGDH gene (42), but the mechanisms by which various cytokines differentially affect promoter activity of NAD+-dependent PGDH or affect the stability of mRNA are presently unknown.

Previously we reported that expression of PGDH mRNA and/or protein as well as activity were lower in chorion from patients at idiopathic preterm labor and in preterm labor with infection (31, 32) and were reduced in lower segment chorion at the time of labor (33). It is clear that regulation of this enzyme is multifactorial (35, 42). We have reported that basal PGDH expression and activity of trophoblast cells in vitro are sustained by progestogens, whereas glucocorticoids such as cortisol and dexamethasone decrease PGDH expression (35). The present study indicates that the enzyme can also be down-regulated by proinflammatory cytokines, although the effects were seen only in villous trophoblast cells. The possibility that cytokines of different classes may have opposing actions on key enzymes of PG synthesis and metabolism adds a further dimension to an already complex series of relationships, an understanding of which is critical to recognition and treatment of the patient in preterm labor.


    Footnotes
 
1 This work was supported by the Medical Research Council of Canada (Medical Research Council Group in Fetal and Neonatal Health and Development. Back

2 Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Physiology of the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, supported by the National Research Council of Italy and by Takeda Co. Back

Received February 23, 1999.

Revised August 10, 1999.

Accepted August 18, 1999.


    References
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 

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