Engulfment and intracellular killing of F9 teratocarcinoma cells by non-activated murine macrophages

Abstract

Activated macrophages kill several types of tumor cells in vitro, whereas non-activated macrophages lack this capacity. We, however, observed that non-activated macrophages efficiently kill F9 teratocarcinoma as well as other teratocarcinoma cell lines. Dexamethasone, a glucocorticoid known to prevent macrophage activation, did not perturb the killing of F9 teratocarcinoma cells. Neither tumor necrosis factor alpha, nor the reactive oxygen intermediates, i.e. hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anion, and hydroxyl radical, nor serine proteases participated in this killing, shown by employing various agents which interfere with their production, secretion, or function. Using acridine orange/ethidium bromide vitality staining, the F9 teratocarcinoma cells were shown to be phagocytized alive by macrophages and subsequently killed intracellularly. Intact lysosomal function is required for the killing of F9 cells, as the lysosomotropic drugs chloroquine and ammonium chloride markedly inhibited this killing without perturbing their engulfment. The signal transduction pathway induced in the macrophages upon interaction with F9 teratocarcinoma cells seems to differ from that induced by macrophage activation. Neither the protein kinase C inhibitors polymyxin B and H-7 [1-(5-isoquinolinylsulfonyl)-2-methyl piperazine] nor the protein kinase C activator phorbol 12-myristate-13-acetate affected the killing of F9 cells. However, chlorpromazine (a powerful inhibitor of calmodulin), dibutyryl cAMP (a cAMP analog), and prostaglandin E2 inhibited the macrophage-mediated killing of F9 cells. In vivo studies indicate that an increased number of macrophages at the F9 tumor inoculation site (the peritoneal cavity) as a result of elicitation by thioglycollate prevents F9 tumor development. Our findings indicate that non-activated macrophages kill teratocarcinoma cells using a mechanism which differs from that employed by activated macrophages in the killing of other tumor cells.