In the early development of atherosclerotic plaque, monocytes are recruited to the arterial intima where they accumulate lipid and become foam cells. The recently described murine chemotactic S100 protein, CP-10, may have an important role in this process. Intraperitoneal injection of CP-10(42-55) (chemotactic hinge region peptide) into mice caused a sustained leukocyte recruitment with a sixfold increase in monocyte numbers over 24 h. CP-10(42-55)--elicited monocyte/macrophages accumulated significantly increased cholesteryl esters in response to acetylated LDL, both in vivo and in vitro and this was associated with a twofold increase in scavenger receptor expression. By contrast, thioglycollate- and macrophage colony-stimulating factor-elicited macrophages expressed levels of scavenger receptor similar to those on resident macrophages and did not exhibit enhanced acetylated LDL loading in vitro. The leukocyte integrin Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18) and its beta subunit (CD18), but neither lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 nor very late activation antigen-4, were upregulated on monocyte/macrophages elicited by CP-10(42-55), thioglycollate, and macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Cholesteryl ester accumulation in vitro was significantly enhanced by adhesion, which appeared to involve macrophage activation via ligation of Mac-1. The initial events of monocyte recruitment and adhesion to the vessel wall may be important in macrophage foam cell development, and CP-10 or related S100 proteins may contribute to the early inflammatory events of atherogenesis by stimulating these events.
W Lau, J M Devery, C L Geczy