Differential Regulation of Adhesion Molecule Expression by Human Cerebrovascular and Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells

The adhesion of circulating leukocytes to vascular endothelium is a prerequisite for their emigration to extravascular tissues. The data presented here demonstrate that intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) are constitutively expressed on endothelial cell lines derived from both human brain (HBEC) and umbilical cord veins (HUVEC). Lipopolysaccharide, tumor necrosis factor-α or interferon-γ treatment of both HBEC and HUVEC cell lines up-regulated the expression of these adhesion molecules in a time- and dose-dependent manner. These same proinflammatory factors also induced the expression of E-selectin on both HBEC and HUVEC cell cultures. Endothelins (ET-1, ET-2 and ET-3) also had a similar effect on the expression of all three adhesion molecules on HBEC. However, none of the endothelins had any effects on ICAM-1, VCAM-1 or E-selectin expression by HUVEC, despite the concomitant effects of the aforementioned factors on identical cultures. These results in...