Critical regulation of inflammation via class A scavenger receptor.

BACKGROUND: Inflammation is an important cause of COPD. Alveolar macrophages are the major innate immune cells that have an important role in COPD pathology. Class A scavenger receptor (SR-A) is a pattern recognition receptor expressed on macrophages. This study investigates the role of SR-A in COPD progression via regulation of inflammation.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: SR-A expression in COPD patients and control subjects (smokers and nonsmokers without COPD) was measured by immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and real-time PCR. The cytokine levels in BAL were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. To further prove our hypothesis, we treated RAW264.7 cells that overexpress SR-A with lipopolysaccharides, poly(I:C), cigarette smoke extract, and H1N1 influenza separated from patients for 24 h and examined the levels of inflammatory cytokines.

RESULTS: In both groups, COPD and smokers without COPD, SR-A expression level was upregulated in alveolar macrophages. SR-A mRNA level was positively correlated with inflammatory cytokines and negatively correlated with FEV1% predicted in COPD patients. In RAW-SR-A cells, level of inflammatory cytokines was significantly higher when compared with control ones.

CONCLUSION: SR-A could increase inflammation stimulated by cigarette smoke extracts, bacteria, and virus, leading to long-term inflammation in COPD, and thus might be used as a new therapeutic target for COPD treatment.