The effects of various drugs and immune complexes on the function of alveolar macrophages from patients with collagen-vascular diseases with interstitial pneumonia

Alveolar macrophages (AM) taken from sixteen patients with collagen-vascular diseases with interstitial pneumonia (CVD-IP+) were cultured with prednisolone (PSL), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), colchicine (Colch), D-penicillamine or aggregated IgG (agg-IgG). The culture supernatants were tested on the fibroblast proliferation function and the amounts of fibronectin (Fn) and interleukin 1 (IL-1). The fibroblast proliferation was suppressed significantly by the supernatants of AM cultured with PGE2. The Fn production by AM was significantly suppressed by PGE2 and Colch. The IL-1 production by AM was not suppressed by these drugs, but was enhanced by Colch. In five patients with CVD-IP+, the fibroblast proliferation of AM supernatant was enhanced by agg-IgG. In these five patients, Fn and IL-1 production had a tendency to be increased by agg-IgG. The ratio of immune complexes (IC) in broncho alveolar lavage fluids to those in sera was significantly higher in patients with CVD-IP+ than in patients with CVD without IP suggesting a local production of IC in the lung in the patients with CVD-IP+.