Abstract
Tumor target-derived soluble secretary factor has been known to influence macrophage activation to induce nitric oxide (NO) production. Since heme oxigenase-1 (HO-1) is induced by a variety of conditions associated with oxidative stress, we questioned whether soluble factor from tumor cells induces HO-1 through NO-dependent mechanism in macrophages. We designated this factor as a tumor-derived macrophage-activating factor (TMAF), because of its ability to activate macrophages to induce iNOS. Although TMAF alone showed modest activity, TMAF in combination with IFN-γ significantly induced iNOS expression and NO synthesis. Simultaneously, TMAF induced HO-1 and this induction was slightly augmented by IFN-γ. Surprisingly, however, induction of HO-1 by TMAF was not inhibited by the treatment with the highly selective iNOS inhibitor, 1400 W, indicating that TMAF induces the HO-1 enzyme by a NO-independent mechanism. While rIFN-γ alone induced iNOS, it had no effect on HO-1 induction by itself. Collectively, the current study reveals that soluble factor from tumor target cells induces HO-1 enzyme in macrophages. However, overall biological significance of this phenomenon remains to be determined.
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This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Kim, SW., Oh, HM., Kim, BS. et al. Soluble factor from tumor cells induces heme oxygenase-1 by a nitric oxide-independent mechanism in murine peritoneal macrophages. Exp Mol Med 35, 53–59 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/emm.2003.8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/emm.2003.8