Autocrine factors in defense of cytotoxic CTLL-2 cells from oxidative stress

Abstract

The role of pyruvate and autocrine polypeptide factors (APF) secreted by cytotoxic IL-2-dependent CTLL-2 cells in cell defense from oxidative stress was investigated. The addition of a conditioned medium (CM) containing pyruvate and APF into CTLL-2 cell cultures significantly increased the cell survival under oxidative stress conditions induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The kinetics of (H2O2) removal from cell cultures with added CM has been registered. It has been shown that, at the beginning of oxidative stress (less than 15 min), H2O2 was mostly removed by means of its reaction with pyruvate contained in CM. Pyruvate content in CM was estimated as 138 ± 7 μM. Gel filtration on a column with Bio-Gel P-10 was used to eliminate pyruvate from CM. Gel filtration resulted in three CM fractions (A, B, and C) corresponding to three chromatogram peaks. Pyruvate was not detected in any fraction. The fraction A was the first to be eluted from the column and contained the largest molecules. In the cell survival test, fraction B had the highest protective ability for CTLL-2 cells under oxidative stress. Fraction A supported cell survival to a lesser degree and fraction C did not show any protective abilities. Fraction B added to cells under oxidative stress kept intracellular ATP content at a significantly higher level then in control cells. Moreover, it was found that APF from fraction B was able to react with H2O2 directly and inactivate it in the absence of cells. APF from fraction A did not have such properties.