Membrane-Anchored Forms of Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-Binding Protein Do Not Mediate Cellular Responses to LPS Independently of CD14

• Published in: The Journal of immunology (1950) Vol. 162; no. 9; pp. 5483 - 5489
• Main Authors: Tapping, Richard I, Orr, Sally L, Lawson, Evangeline M, Soldau, Katrin, Tobias, Peter S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Am Assoc Immnol 01-05-1999
• Subjects: Acute-Phase Proteins; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Astrocytoma; Base Sequence; Carrier Proteins - biosynthesis; Carrier Proteins - metabolism; Carrier Proteins - physiology; Cell Membrane - chemistry; Cell Membrane - immunology; Cell Membrane - metabolism; CHO Cells; Cricetinae; Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; Humans; Immunity, Cellular; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 - biosynthesis; Interleukin-6 - biosynthesis; Lipopolysaccharide Receptors - genetics; Lipopolysaccharide Receptors - metabolism; Lipopolysaccharide Receptors - physiology; Lipopolysaccharides - immunology; Lipopolysaccharides - metabolism; Lipopolysaccharides - pharmacology; Membrane Glycoproteins; Molecular Sequence Data; NF-kappa B - metabolism; Recombinant Proteins - immunology; Tumor Cells, Cultured
• ISSN: 0022-1767; 1550-6606
• DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.162.9.5483

Inflammatory responses of myeloid cells to LPS are mediated through CD14, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored receptor that binds LPS. Since CD14 does not traverse the plasma membrane and alternatively anchored forms of CD14 still enable LPS-induced cellular activation, the precise role of CD14 in mediating these responses remains unknown. To address this, we created a transmembrane and a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored form of LPS-binding protein (LBP), a component of serum that binds and transfers LPS to other molecules. Stably transfected Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) fibroblast and U373 astrocytoma cell lines expressing membrane-anchored LBP (mLBP), as well as separate CHO and U373 cell lines expressing membrane CD14 (mCD14), were subsequently generated. Under serum-free conditions, CHO and U373 cells expressing mCD14 responded to as little as 0.1 ng/ml of LPS, as measured by NF-kappaB activation as well as ICAM and IL-6 production. Conversely, the vector control and mLBP-expressing cell lines did not respond under serum-free conditions even in the presence of more than 100 ng/ml of LPS. All the cell lines exhibited responses to less than 1 ng/ml of LPS in the presence of the soluble form of CD14, demonstrating that they are still capable of LPS-induced activation. Taken together, these results demonstrate that mLBP, a protein that brings LPS to the cell surface, does not mediate cellular responses to LPS independently of CD14. These findings suggest that CD14 performs a more specific role in mediating responses to LPS than that of simply bringing LPS to the cell surface.