RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Alveolar macrophage-derived microvesicles mediate acute lung injury JF Thorax JO Thorax FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Thoracic Society SP 1020 OP 1029 DO 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2015-208032 VO 71 IS 11 A1 Sanooj Soni A1 Michael R Wilson A1 Kieran P O'Dea A1 Mariko Yoshida A1 Umar Katbeh A1 Samantha J Woods A1 Masao Takata YR 2016 UL http://thorax.bmj.com/content/71/11/1020.abstract AB Background Microvesicles (MVs) are important mediators of intercellular communication, packaging a variety of molecular cargo. They have been implicated in the pathophysiology of various inflammatory diseases; yet, their role in acute lung injury (ALI) remains unknown.Objectives We aimed to identify the biological activity and functional role of intra-alveolar MVs in ALI.Methods Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was instilled intratracheally into C57BL/6 mice, and MV populations in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were evaluated. BALF MVs were isolated 1 hour post LPS, assessed for cytokine content and incubated with murine lung epithelial (MLE-12) cells. In separate experiments, primary alveolar macrophage-derived MVs were incubated with MLE-12 cells or instilled intratracheally into mice.Results Alveolar macrophages and epithelial cells rapidly released MVs into the alveoli following LPS. At 1 hour, the dominant population was alveolar macrophage-derived, and these MVs carried substantive amounts of tumour necrosis factor (TNF) but minimal amounts of IL-1β/IL-6. Incubation of these mixed MVs with MLE-12 cells induced epithelial intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression and keratinocyte-derived cytokine release compared with MVs from untreated mice (p<0.001). MVs released in vitro from LPS-primed alveolar macrophages caused similar increases in MLE-12 ICAM-1 expression, which was mediated by TNF. When instilled intratracheally into mice, these MVs induced increases in BALF neutrophils, protein and epithelial cell ICAM-1 expression (p<0.05).Conclusions We demonstrate, for the first time, the sequential production of MVs from different intra-alveolar precursor cells during the early phase of ALI. Our findings suggest that alveolar macrophage-derived MVs, which carry biologically active TNF, may play an important role in initiating ALI.