Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Burkholderia cepacia Is More Active than LPS from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in Stimulating Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha from Human Monocytes

<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title> <jats:p> Whole cells and lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) extracted from <jats:italic>Burkholderia cepacia</jats:italic> , <jats:italic>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</jats:italic> , <jats:italic>Stenotrophomonas maltophilia</jats:italic> , and <jats:italic>Escherichia coli</jats:italic> were compared in their ability to stimulate tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) from the human monocyte cell line MonoMac-6. <jats:italic>B. cepacia</jats:italic> LPS, on a weight-for-weight basis, was found to have TNF-α-inducing activity similar to that of LPS from <jats:italic>E. coli</jats:italic> , which was approximately four- and eightfold greater than the activity of LPSs from <jats:italic>P. aeruginosa</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>S. maltophilia</jats:italic> , respectively. The LPS-stimulated TNF-α production from monocytes was found to be CD14 dependent. These results suggest that <jats:italic>B. cepacia</jats:italic> LPS might play a role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory lung disease in cystic fibrosis, and in some patients it might be responsible, at least in part, for the sepsis-like cepacia syndrome. </jats:p>