Decay-accelerating factor on human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Its histamine-induced expression and spontaneous rapid shedding from the cell surface.

Decay-accelerating factor (DAF) is a membrane protein that protects host cells from attack by its own complement. Although DAF expression on endothelial cells is thought to increase pathophysiologically, little is known about the natural mediators that modulate DAF expression on endothelial cells. In this study, we evaluated the effect of histamine on DAF expression on human umbilical vein cells (HUVEC). HUVEC were cultured with histamine, and DAF expression on HUVEC was determined by flow cytometry after immunostaining with a mAb to DAF. DAF expression on HUVEC was increased at 10 microM histamine, and the final level was increased time-dependently by 150% to 200% after a 24-h incubation with 100 microM histamine. The histamine-induced DAF expression was inhibited by actinomycin D and cycloheximide and accompanied by an increase in the DAF mRNA level, indicating that both transcription and translation are required. In addition, the histamine-induced DAF expression was inhibited by pyrilamine, an H1 blocker, but not by cimetidine, an H2 blocker, indicating that histamine induces the DAF expression through H1 receptors. We also demonstrated that the turnover of DAF is faster than that of MCP and CD59, and DAF is released into the culture supernatant. DAF is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked protein that is released from HUVEC by a phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C. Although HUVEC also contain the glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored complement inhibitor CD59, this was not released during a 24-h incubation, suggesting that the shedding of DAF from HUVEC is not caused by PI-PLC but by other enzymes, possibly proteinases. These results suggest that histamine, which is released from mast cells and basophils by complement-derived anaphylatoxins, increases the complement defense ability of endothelial cells by increasing their levels of DAF expression.