Nuclear factor-kappaB activation in human monocytes stimulated with lipopolysaccharide is inhibited by fibroblast conditioned medium and exogenous PGE2. 
The nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) is thought to be crucially involved in the gene activation of several cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF). Previously, we showed that fibroblast conditioned medium (FCM) is able to inhibit both TNF mRNA accumulation and protein release in peripheral blood-derived human monocytes (PBM) stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In this study we have investigated the effect of FCM on the LPS-induced DNA-binding activity of NF-kappaB, by means of electrophoretic shift assay (EMSA). We provide evidence that FCM strongly inhibits the LPS-induced NF-kappaB activation in PBM. Furthermore, we show that exogenous PGE2 mimics the NF-kappaB inhibitory effect of FCM. On the other hand, FCM produced in the presence of indomethacin does not inhibit NF-kappaB activation by LPS. Our results lend further support to the hypothesis that inflammatory and immune responses of monocytes/macrophages may be modulated at the molecular level by signals originating from tissue structural cells such as fibroblasts.