Inhibition of monocyte/macrophage migration to a spinal cord injury site by an antibody to the integrin αD:: A potential new anti-inflammatory treatment

The inflammatory response that ensues during the initial 48 to 72 h after spinal cord injury causes considerable secondary damage to neurons and glia. Infiltration of proinflammatory-activated neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages into the cord contributes to spinal cord injury-associated secondary damage. beta2 integrins play an essential role in leukocyte trafficking and activation and arbitrate cell-cell interactions during inflammation. The beta2 integrin, alphaD beta2, is expressed on monocytes/macrophages and neutrophils and binds to vascular adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1). The increased expression of VCAM-1 during central nervous system (CNS) inflammation likely contributes to leukocyte extravasation into the CNS, Accordingly, blocking the interaction between alphaD beta2 and VCAM-1 may attenuate the inflammatory response at the SCI site. We investigated whether the administration of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific for the rat alphaD subunit would reduce the inflammatory response after a spinal cord transection injury in rats. At a 1 mg/kg dose two of three anti-alphaD mAbs caused a significant (similar to 65%) reduction in the number of macrophages at the injury site and one anti-alphaD mAb led to a similar to 43% reduction in the number of neutrophils at the SCI site. Thus, our results support the concept that the alphaD beta2 integrins play an important role in the trafficking of leukocytes to a site of central nervous system inflammation. This study also offers preliminary evidence that anti-alphaD mAbs can reduce the extravasation of macrophages and, to a lesser extent, neutrophils, to the SCI site. (C) 2000 Academic Press.