Abstract
The placental members of the prolactin-GH-placental lactogen (PL) gene family of the mouse include mPL-I, mPL-II, proliferin (PLF) and proliferin-related protein (PRP). The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) on the secretion of these proteins in primary cultures of placental cells from days 7, 9 and 12 of pregnancy. The effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF) on the secretion of PLF and PRP were also determined. EGF has previously been shown to stimulate mPL-I and inhibit mPL-II secretion. Incubation of placental cells from day 7 of pregnancy for 5 days with 10 nmol human (h)TNF-α/1 did not affect the mPL-II concentration of the medium, but similar treatment of cells from days 9 or 12 of pregnancy resulted in a significant reduction in the mPL-II concentration of the medium by the second or third day of culture. The intracellular concentration of mPL-II, the number of cells that released mPL-II as assessed by reverse haemolytic plaque assay, and steady-state levels of mPL-II mRNA as assessed by Northern analysis were also reduced by hTNF-α treatment. The lowest concentration of hTNF-α that significantly inhibited mPL-II secretion by cells from day 12 of pregnancy was 0·01 nmol/l. hTNF-α treatment did not affect the secretion of mPL-I, PLF or PRP, as assessed by the concentrations of these proteins in the medium during a 5-day incubation. Incubation of the cells with 20 ng EGF/ml also did not affect the PLF or PRP concentration of the medium during 5 days of culture. To determine whether the effect of hTNF-α on mPL-II secretion was mediated by interleukin-6 (IL-6), the IL-6 concentration of the medium of control and hTNF-α-treated cells was determined. Bioactive and immuno-reactive IL-6 could not be detected in medium from either treatment group. The presence of binding sites for hTNF-α was assessed in cells from day 12 of pregnancy. Scatchard analysis detected a single class of binding sites having a Kd of 1·61±0·34 nmol/l, with about 1350 sites per cell. The results of this study demonstrate that hTNF-α inhibits the secretion of mPL-II by placental cells from days 9 and 12 of pregnancy, suggesting that TNF-α may be one of the factors that regulate the production of this hormone in vivo.
Journal of Endocrinology (1994) 143, 95–105
The role of adenosine receptors in regulating production of tumour necrosis factor-α and chemokines by human lung macrophages