While an elevated plasma concentration of HDLs is protective against the development of atherosclerosis and ensuing coronary heart disease (CHD), the mechanism of this protection is unknown. One early cellular event in atherogenesis is the adhesion of mononuclear leukocytes to the endothelium. This event is mediated principally by vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) but also involves other molecules, such as intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and E-selectin. We have investigated the effect of isolated plasma HDLs and reconstituted HDLs on the expression of these molecules by endothelial cells. We show that physiological concentrations of HDLs inhibit tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) or interleukin-1 (IL-1) induction of these leukocyte adhesion molecules in a concentration-dependent manner. Steady state mRNA levels of TNF-alpha-induced VCAM-1 and E-selectin are significantly reduced by physiological concentrations of HDLs. An an HDL concentration of 1 mg/mL apolipoprotein A-I, the protein expressions of VCAM-1, ICAM-1, and E-selectin were inhibited by 89.6 +/- 0.4% (mean +/-SD, n=4), 64.8 +/- 1.0%, and 79.2 +/- 0.4%, respectively. In contrast, HDLs have no effect on the expression of platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule (PECAM) or on the expression of the p55 and p75 subunits of the TNF-alpha receptor. HDLs were effective when added from 16 hours before to 5 minutes after cytokine stimulation. HDLs had no effect on TNF-alpha-induced expression of ICAM-1 by human foreskin fibroblasts, suggesting that the effect is cell-type restricted.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)