Regulation of TREM expression in hepatic macrophages and endothelial cells during acute endotoxemia

Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (TREM) regulates inflammatory responses to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In these studies, we analyzed the expression of TREM in hepatic macrophages and endothelial cells which play a central role in LPS clearance. LPS administration to C3H/HeOuJ mice resulted in a rapid induction of TREM-1 and TREM-3, but a decrease in TREM-2 in liver macrophages and endothelial cells. The observation that TREM family members are detectable in endothelial cells is novel and demonstrates that their expression is not limited to myeloid cells. LPS-induced alterations in TREM expression were not evident in cells from C3H/HeJ TLR-4 mutant mice, indicating that the response is dependent on TLR-4. IL-1β and TNFα upregulated TREM-1 and TREM-3 expression and suppressed TREM-2 expression in macrophages and endothelial cells. This activity involved PI3-kinase and p38 MAP kinase signaling. Interestingly, no significant differences were noted in TREM expression between wild-type and TNFR1−/− mice treated with LPS. Treatment of macrophages and endothelial cells with LPS upregulated expression of nitric oxide synthase-2 (NOS-2). This was blocked by TREM-1 Fc/fusion protein, indicating that TREM-1 mediates LPS-induced NOS-2 expression. These results suggest that TREM proteins are important in the inflammatory response of hepatic macrophages and endothelial cells to acute endotoxemia.