Monocyte macrophage differentiation in vitro: Fibronectin-dependent upregulation of certain macrophage-specific activities

Transendothelial migration of monocytes followed by their differentiation into macrophages involves interaction of monocytes with subendothelial matrix. The influence of extracellular matrix on monocyte-macrophage differentiation was studied using an in vitro model system with human PBMC maintained on different matrix protein substrata. Upregulation of macrophage specific marker activities such as endocytosis of modified proteins, changes in expression of cell surface antigen, and production of matrix metalloproteinases was studied. Cells maintained on Fibronectin (Fn) showed significantly higher rate of endocytosis and production of MMP2 and MMP9 when compared to other matrix protein substrata. Immunoblot analysis, ELISA, and zymography showed that Fn-dependent upregulation of MMPs was blocked by antibodies to alpha(5)beta(1) integrin indicating that the Fn effect was mediated by integrins. The Fn effect on mo-m Phi was blocked by genistein and herbimycin. As monocytes differentiate to macrophages there was an increase in the rate of production of Fn. These results indicate the influence of the microenvironment of the cell, particularly Fn, on mo-m Phi differentiation and integrin-mediated downstream signaling through focal adhesion kinase and Src type tyrosine kinase is involved in this.