Monocyte suppressor factor is plasminogen activator inhibitor inhibition of membrane bound but not soluble IL-1

Human monocytes cultured in monolayer for 6 days were found to secrete a factor that suppressed the T cell proliferative response to soluble Ag and to alloantigens. The elaboration of this monocyte suppressor factor (MSF) was not inhibited by indomethacin. It has an apparent Mr of 50 to 60 kDa. It does not inhibit soluble IL-1 in the murine thymocyte costimulator assay but does inhibit the activity of membrane bound IL-1, which we observed to be almost exclusively IL-1 alpha. MSF contains elevated amounts of plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) when measured either as bioactivity or in an ELISA. Its immunosuppressive properties are inhibited by anti-PAI antibody. Furthermore, the eluate but not the effluent of an anti-PAI immunoabsorbent column contains all of the immunosuppressive activity. Based on these data we suggest that MSF is, in fact, PAI and postulate that the mechanism of action is inhibition of the plasmin cascade, thereby preventing the release of membrane bound IL-1. This suggests that monocytes possess an autoregulatory circuit that may have implications for the kinetics of the inflammatory response.