Increased cyclooxygenase-2 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of smokers and hyperlipidemic subjects

• Published in: Free radical biology & medicine 2005-01, Vol.38 (2), p.235-242
• Main Authors: Bonaterra, Gabriel A., Hildebrandt, Wulf, Bodens, Anne, Sauer, Roland, Dugi, Klaus A., Deigner, Hans-Peter, Dröge, Wulf, Metz, Jürgen, Kinscherf, Ralf
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Amino Acids - metabolism; Blotting, Western; Body Mass Index; Cholesterol - metabolism; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Cyclooxygenase 2; Cysteine - chemistry; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Free radicals; Humans; Hypercholesterolemia; Hyperlipidemias - metabolism; Hyperlipoproteinemia; Inflammation; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - cytology; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - enzymology; Lipoproteins, LDL - metabolism; Macrophages - cytology; Male; Membrane Proteins; Oxidants - metabolism; Oxygen - metabolism; Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases - biosynthesis; Regression Analysis; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Risk; Risk Factors; RNA - metabolism; Smoking
• ISSN: 0891-5849; 1873-4596
• DOI: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2004.10.021

Cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 is expressed in macrophages of arteriosclerotic lesions and promotes inflammation. We investigated whether COX-2 is already expressed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of subjects possessing risk-related factors, such as in smokers and hyperlipidemics. PBMCs were isolated from the venous blood of normolipidemic nonsmokers (NL-NSM; n = 15), normolipidemic smokers (NL-SM; n = 12), hyperlipidemic nonsmokers (HL-NSM; n = 10), and hyperlipidemic smokers (HL-SM; n = 10). RNA from PBMCs was used for RT-PCR. Plasma concentrations of oxidized low-density lipoproteins (oxLDL) were measured by ELISA, those of glutamate and cystine by HPLC. The results show that COX-2 expression in PBMCs was significantly increased in the groups with cardiovascular risk factors (NL-SM, HL-SM, HL-NSM) compared with NL-NSM. COX-2 expression in PBMCs was positively correlated with concentrations of total serum cholesterol, oxLDL, glutamate, or cystine. We suggest that the elevated COX-2 expression indicates a priming of PBMCs as a response to a systemic pro-oxidative and proinflammatory shift in subjects with cardiovascular risk factors, which might also contribute to growth and instability of arteriosclerotic lesions.