Human monocyte inflammatory mediator gene expression is selectively regulated by adherence substrates.

During the process of extravasation, monocytes transiently adhere to capillary endothelium and subsequently with a variety of extracellular matrix components. These early interactions are likely to serve as modifiers of transcriptional activity and serve to prime monocytes for rapid synthesis of mediators. We have previously reported that adherence to plastic rapidly induced or down-regulated steady-state mRNA levels of a number of monocyte inflammatory mediator genes. We now report that adherence to surfaces pretreated with fibronectin resulted in TNF-alpha and CSF-1 mRNA levels approximating adherence to plastic, whereas adherence to fibronectin, fibronectin/anti-fibronectin complexes, or collagen resulted in markedly decreased levels of CSF-1 induction and lysozyme down-regulation. In contrast, monocyte adherence to collagen induced the highest sustained levels of TNF-alpha expression. PMA, but not the chemotactic factor FMLP, stimulated non-adherent monocytes to express c-fos and TNF-alpha and down-regulate lysozyme mRNA. Although all donors responded to adherence, several failed to produce CSF-1 mRNA after PMA stimulation in the non-adherent state. These data demonstrate that monocyte mediator expression may be more dependent on the selectivity of signals induced by adherence to different substrates than the initial chemotactic response.