Biological Aspects of Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 (MCP-1)

Abstract

In 1973, Altman et al. published a paper entitled “A human mononuclear leukocyte chemotactic factor: characterization, specificity and kinetics of production by homologous leukocytes” (1). They reported that stimulation by tuberculin (PPD) of blood mononuclear leukocytes from individuals with a positive skin test to tuberculin caused production of a chemotactic factor for human monocytes. Since addition of PPD to leucocytes from PPD-negative subjects did not elicit the factor, the authors suggested that it was an in vitro correlate of delayed hypersensitivity and could account for recruitment of macrophages in cellular immune reactions. The factor was a heat stable macromolecule with a molecular mass, estimated by gel filtration, of about 12,500 daltons. Altman later referred to this molecule as leukocyte-derived chemotactic factor, or LDCF (2). In 1989, we reported the purification to homogeneity of the predominant chemotactic activity for monocytes in culture fluids of PHA-stimulated human mononuclear leukocytes (3). We suggested that this 8700 dalton protein, called MCP-1, is the attractant studied by Altman et al. fifteen years earlier. The present communication addresses the possible role of MCP-1 in cellular immunity. Other biological aspects of MCP-1 were recently reviewed (4).