Characterization of proinflammatory cytokine production and CD14 expression by murine alveolar macrophage cell lines

Alveolar macrophages, which play a central role in lung defense, produce cytokines that help orchestrate local inflammatory responses. In sepsis and other pathological conditions, bacterial lipopolysaccharide endotoxin can induce alveolar macrophages (AM) to release proinflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1, and interleukin-6. Studying the mechanisms that control alveolar macrophage cytokine production may lead to better therapies for conditions involving inflammatory lung injury. We and others have noted significant differences between alveolar macrophages and peritoneal macrophages, but large numbers of human or murine alveolar macrophages are rarely available for detailed mechanistic studies. We have obtained three murine alveolar macrophage cell lines (AMJ2C8, AMJ2C11, and AMJ2C20) and have begun to characterize their cytokine responses to proinflammatory stimuli. We measured the effects of endotoxin, interferon gamma, and the combination of the two on production of tumor necrosis factor, interleukin-1 beta, and interleukin-6 in each line. We also studied the expression of the endotoxin receptor CD14 by these cells, and investigated the effect of serum on their endotoxin responsiveness. We show here that all three of the cell lines responded in a manner comparable to that of primary murine alveolar macrophages. Observed variations between these lines may reflect the documented heterogeneity seen in populations of primary alveolar macrophages. These cell lines should expand the repertoire of tools available to investigators studying regulation of murine alveolar macrophage responses.