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Liver Resident Macrophages (Kupffer Cells) Share Several Functional Antigens in Common with Endothelial Cells
Author(s) -
Okada T.,
Kimura A.,
Kanki K.,
Nakatani S.,
Nagahara Y.,
Hiraga M.,
Watanabe Y.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/sji.12402
Subject(s) - receptor , vascular endothelial growth factor , macrophage , antigen , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , chemotaxis , vegf receptors , cancer research , immunology , chemistry , in vitro , biochemistry
The identification and specific functions of Kupffer cells ( KC s), a liver resident macrophage subpopulation, are still unclear. We compared KC s with peritoneal macrophages using cDNA microarray analysis and found that these cells share some antigens with endothelial cells. KC s highly express VCAM ‐1 and VEGF receptors ( VEGF ‐Rs) at transcriptional and protein levels. VCAM ‐1 mediates the functional binding of KC s with lymphocytes and induces KC activation. Among the VEGF receptors, VEGF ‐R2 and VEGF ‐R3 were expressed on the KC s, while VEGF ‐R1 was expressed on other tissue macrophage subsets. VEGF 120, a ligand of both VEGF ‐R1 and VEGF ‐R2, transduced strong survival and chemotactic signals through the KC s, when compared to PIGF , a VEGF ‐R1 ligand, indicating that VEGF ‐R2 plays significant roles in regulating KC activities. Expression of the VEGF ‐Rs was regulated by TLR 4 signalling. These results suggest that the function of KC s is partly regulated by the common antigens shared with endothelial cells.