Ultraviolet irradiation accelerates apoptosis in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes: protection by LPS and GM-CSF

Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) play a central role in host response to injury and infection. Understanding factors that regulate PMN survival may therefore have a major influence on the development of novel treatment strategies for controlling life‐threatening infections, as well as local and systemic inflammatory responses. Unfortunately, the presently utilized in vitro culture model of PMN apoptosis makes the examination of early biochemical events surrounding PMN apoptosis very difficult. This study demonstrates that a short course of UV irradiation (15 min) can be used to induce rapid progression of PMN through the apoptotic process with 70–90% of PMN displaying features of apoptosis by 4 h after UV exposure. Bacterial lipopolysaccharide and granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor, which are known to prolong PMN survival during in vitro culture, also protected PMN from UV‐accelerated apoptosis. The UV‐accelerated model of PMN apoptosis provides another valuable tool for the investigation of early signaling pathways associated with inducing or delaying PMN apoptosis. J. Leukoc. Biol. 62: 517–523; 1997.