An in vitro test to screen skin sensitizers using a stable THP-1-derived IL-8 reporter cell line, THP-G8

Toxicol Sci. 2011 Dec;124(2):359-69. doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kfr237. Epub 2011 Sep 13.

Abstract

Several studies have suggested that interleukin (IL)-8 can serve as a biomarker for discrimination of skin sensitizers from nonsensitizers. We established a stable THP-1-derived IL-8 reporter cell line, THP-G8, which harbors SLO and SLR luciferase genes under the control of IL-8 and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase promoters, respectively. After 6 h treatment with chemicals, normalized SLO luciferase activity (nSLO-LA) was calculated by dividing SLO-LA by SLR-LA, and the fold induction of nSLO-LA (FInSLO-LA) was calculated by dividing nSLO-LA of chemically treated cells by that of nontreated cells. The nSLO-LA of THP-G8 cells increased in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and several sensitizers. The FInSLO-LA in THP-G8 cells induced by LPS or sensitizers positively correlated with their induction of IL-8 messenger RNA in THP-1 cells. The nSLO-LA value of THP-G8 cells was significantly increased (FInSLO-LA ≥ 1.4) by 13 of the 15 sensitizers as well as by 5 of the 7 nonsensitizers. Interestingly, pretreatment with N-acetylcysteine suppressed the increase in FInSLO-LA induced by all sensitizers (inhibition index (II) ≤ 0.8) but did not suppress that induced by most of the nonsensitizers. We then evaluated the performance of this assay using values of FInSLO-LA ≥ 1.4 and II ≤ 0.8 in at least two of three independent experiments as the criteria of a sensitizer, which resulted in test accuracies of 82% for the 22 chemicals used and of 88% for the chemicals proposed by European Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods. This newly developed assay is a candidate replacement for animal tests of skin sensitization because of its accuracy, convenience, and high throughput performance.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Allergens / toxicity*
  • Animal Testing Alternatives
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Survival / drug effects
  • Dermatitis, Contact / etiology
  • Enzyme Induction
  • Genes, Reporter
  • High-Throughput Screening Assays
  • Humans
  • Interleukin-8 / genetics
  • Interleukin-8 / immunology*
  • Lipopolysaccharides / pharmacology
  • Luciferases / biosynthesis*
  • Luciferases / genetics
  • Macrophages / drug effects*
  • Macrophages / immunology
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Skin Tests / methods*

Substances

  • Allergens
  • Interleukin-8
  • Lipopolysaccharides
  • Luciferases