Pro- and Anti-inflammatory Cytokines Regulate Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein Production by Fetal Rat Lung Fibroblasts

The inflammatory response of the lung to noxious factors contributes to the pathogenesis of chronic lung injury. Inflammatory mediators regulate the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system, a key modulator of lung fibroblast proliferation. The activity of IGFs is regulated by IGF-binding proteins (IGFBPs) secreted by lung cells. To investigate the regulation of lung fibroblast IGFBPs by cytokines, we exposed 19-d fetal rat lung fibroblasts to various pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators. IGFBP abundance in conditioned medium (CM) was measured by ligand blot and RNA transcript abundance by RNase protection assays. Fetal rat lung fibroblasts exposed to interleukin (IL)-1beta or tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha for 48 h demonstrated increased abundance of CM IGFBP-3 (5.9- and 4.7-fold increases for IL-1beta and TNF-alpha, respectively) and IGFBP-4 (5.7- and 7.4-fold increases for IL-1beta and TNF-alpha, respectively) that was accompanied by a small increase in IGFBP-4 mRNA and a larger increase in IGFBP-3 mRNA abundance. IGFBP-4 specific proteolysis was examined in CM collected from fetal rat lung fibroblasts after incubation with serum-free medium (SFM), IL-1beta, or TNF-alpha for 48 h. Cell-free aliquots of SFM-CM incubated at 37C for 24 h showed a 65% decrease in IGFBP-4 abundance that was inhibited by 1,10-phenanthroline. In contrast, CM from cells exposed to IL-1beta or TNF-alpha incubated at 37 degrees C for 24 h did not show a significant decrease in IGFBP-4 abundance unless IGF-I was present during the cell-free incubation. Addition of IGFBP-3 to aliquots of SFM-CM reversed the IGF-I-mediated acceleration of IGFBP-4 proteolysis. Similarly, addition of IGFBP-3 to cells in culture increased the accumulation of CM IGFBP-4. These results demonstrate that cytokines regulate IGFBP production and clearance by fetal lung cells and suggest a mechanism by which cytokines regulate cell proliferation following lung injury.