Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha exerts multiple effects on human acute myeloblastic leukaemia (AML) cells in vitro, including (1) synergistic stimulation of proliferation with interleukin-3 (IL-3) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF); (2) inhibition of granulocyte-CSF (G-CSF) and stem cell factor (SCF)-induced growth; (3) suppression of multiplication of clonogenic leukaemic cells; (4) induction of autocrine growth. Recently, two distinct TNF receptors (TNF-Rs), TNF-Rp55 and TNF-Rp75, have been identified. In this study we show that both receptors are expressed on freshly isolated AML blasts, with p75 being the predominant TNF-receptor type. This study investigates the roles of these two receptors in TNF-alpha-driven growth regulation of AML blasts in vitro. Using a receptor-specific antibody, it is shown that both receptor types participate in TNF-alpha-mediated stimulation of GM-CSF/IL-3-induced proliferation and in TNF-alpha-induced autocrine growth. In contrast, the TNF-alpha-triggered growth inhibition (antiproliferation) and the potent suppression of G-CSF- and SCF-induced proliferation exclusively result from activation of TNF-Rp55. Taken together, these results suggest that the proliferative effects of TNF-alpha on AML blasts are mediated through both p55 and p75 TNF receptors, whereas the TNF-alpha-signalled growth inhibition is exclusively transduced via TNF-Rp55.

This study investigates the capacity of human recombinant interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha), IL-1 beta and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) to induce DNA synthesis of highly purified blasts from nine adult common acute lymphoblastic leukaemias (cALL) in 7 d liquid culture. IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha stimulated 3H-TdR uptake in leukaemic blasts in a dose-dependent fashion. The IL-1-induced DNA synthesis of cALL cells could not be prevented by the addition of neutralizing antibodies against IL-3, GM-CSF, IL-6 or TNF-alpha. Similarly, the TNF-alpha-stimulated 3H-TdR incorporation of leukaemic blasts was not affected by the addition of antibodies towards IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-3, GM-CSF or IL-6. These observations suggest that IL-1 as well as TNF-alpha stimulated growth could not be attributed to the endogenous production of factors, corresponding to the antibodies used in these experiments. Both IL-1 as well as TNF-alpha mediate their action through interaction with specific cell surface receptors. Recently two distinct types of IL-1 receptors (IL-1-Rs), IL-1R(p80) and IL-1-R(p65), as well as two distinct types of TNF-receptors (TNF-Rs), TNF-R (p55) and TNF-R (p75) have been identified. Both types of TNF-Rs exist also in soluble forms (sTNF-Rs), while soluble IL-1-Rs (sIL-1-Rs) have not yet been found naturally. In this study we show that sIL-1-R as well as sTNF-R modulate the effects of their corresponding cytokine in a dose-dependent bimodal fashion; at lower concentrations they augmented while at higher concentrations they inhibited the cytokine-stimulated DNA synthesis of cALL blasts in vitro. It may therefore be concluded from this study that soluble receptors for both IL-1 and TNF, at least in vitro, are functional and interfere with their corresponding cytokine bioactivity.

This study demonstrates that soluble interleukin‐1 receptor and tumor necrosis factor receptor modulate their corresponding cytokine‐induced DNA synthesis of acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) blasts in a dose‐dependent, bimodal fashion; at lower concentrations they enhanced, while at high concentrations they inhibited, the cytokine‐mediated effects. Furthermore, the concentrations of endogenously produced IL‐1β and TNF‐a were found to be significantly (p<0.01) higher in supernatants of AML cells cultured in the presence of corresponding soluble receptors compared to their levels in supernatants of cells growing in the absence of these molecules. Our data might suggest that the attenuation of the spontaneous decay of IL‐1β as well as TNF‐a activities by soluble receptors may account for their ability to augment some of their effects.