技术资料

Bruton tyrosine kinase (Btk) is essential for B cell development and function and also appears to be important for myeloid cells. The bone marrow of Btk-deficient mice shows enhanced granulopoiesis compared with that of wild-type mice. In purified granulocyte-monocyte-progenitors (GMP) from Btk-deficient mice,the development of granulocytes is favored at the expense of monocytes. However,Btk-deficient neutrophils are impaired in maturation and function. Using bone marrow chimeras,we show that this defect is cell-intrinsic to neutrophils. In GMP and neutrophils,Btk plays a role in GM-CSF- and Toll-like receptor-induced differentiation. Molecular analyses revealed that expression of the lineage-determining transcription factors C/EBPα,C/EBPβ,and PU.1,depends on Btk. In addition,expression of several granule proteins,including myeloperoxidase,neutrophilic granule protein,gelatinase and neutrophil elastase,is Btk-dependent. In the Arthus reaction,an acute inflammatory response,neutrophil migration into tissues,edema formation,and hemorrhage are significantly reduced in Btk-deficient animals. Together,our findings implicate Btk as an important regulator of neutrophilic granulocyte maturation and function in vivo. View Publication

View Publication

It is increasingly evident that neutrophils are able to cross-talk with other leukocytes to shape ongoing inflammatory and immune responses. In this study,we analyzed whether human NK cells may influence the survival and activation of neutrophils under co-culture conditions. We report that NK cells exposed to either IL-15 or IL-18 alone strongly protect the survival of neutrophils via the release of IFNγ and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) plus IFNγ,respectively,and cause a slight up-regulation of neutrophil CD64 and CD11b expression. In comparison,NK cells exposed to both IL-15 and IL-18 show a lesser ability to increase the survival of neutrophils but can more potently up-regulate CD64 and CD11b expression,as well as induce the de novo surface expression of CD69,in neutrophils. Analysis of the events occurring in neutrophil/NK co-cultures exposed to IL-15 plus IL-18 revealed that (i) neutrophil survival is positively affected by NK-derived GM-CSF but negatively influenced by a CD18-dependent neutrophil/NK contact,(ii) NK-derived IFNγ is almost entirely responsible for the induction of CD64,(iii) both soluble factors (primarily GM-CSF) and direct cell-cell contact up-regulate CD11b and CD69 and (iv) NK-derived GM-CSF induces the expression of biologically active heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HB-EGF) in neutrophils. Finally,we demonstrate that NK cells can also express HB-EGF when stimulated with either IL-2 or IL-15,yet independently of endogenous GM-CSF. Altogether,our results define a novel interaction within the innate immune system whereby NK cells,by directly modulating neutrophil functions,might contribute to the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. View Publication

Neutrophil apoptosis is essential for the resolution of inflammation but is delayed by several inflammatory mediators. In such terminally differentiated cells it has been uncertain whether these agents can inhibit apoptosis through transcriptional regulation of anti-death (Bcl-X(L),Mcl-1,Bcl2A1) or BH3-only (Bim,Bid,Puma) Bcl2-family proteins. We report that granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α prevent the normal time-dependent loss of Mcl-1 and Bcl2A1 in neutrophils,and we demonstrate that they cause an NF-κB-dependent increase in Bcl-X(L) transcription/translation. We show that GM-CSF and TNF-α increase and/or maintain mRNA levels for the pro-apoptotic BH3-only protein Bid and that GM-CSF has a similar NF-κB-dependent effect on Bim transcription and BimEL expression. The in-vivo relevance of these findings was indicated by demonstrating that GM-CSF is the dominant neutrophil survival factor in lung lavage from patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia,confirming an increase in lung neutrophil Bim mRNA. Finally GM-CSF caused mitochondrial location of Bim and a switch in phenotype to a cell that displays accelerated caspase-9-dependent apoptosis. This study demonstrates the capacity of neutrophil survival agents to induce a paradoxical increase in the pro-apoptotic proteins Bid and Bim and suggests that this may function to facilitate rapid apoptosis at the termination of the inflammatory cycle. View Publication

Natural killer cells are lymphocytes specialized to participate in host defense through their innate ability to mediate cytotoxicity by secreting the contents of preformed secretory lysosomes (lytic granules) directly onto a target cell. This form of directed secretion requires the formation of an immunological synapse and occurs stepwise with actin reorganization preceding microtubule-organizing center (MTOC) polarization to the synapse. Because MTOC polarization to the synapse is required for polarization of lytic granules,we attempted to define their interrelationship. We found that compared with the time required for MTOC polarization,lytic granules converged to the MTOC rapidly. The MTOC-directed movement of lytic granules was independent of actin and microtubule reorganization,dependent on dynein motor function,occurred before MTOC polarization,and did not require a commitment to cytotoxicity. This defines a novel paradigm for rapid MTOC-directed transport as a prerequisite for directed secretion,one that may prepare,but not commit cells for precision secretory function. View Publication

Neonatal hyperoxia impairs vascular and alveolar growth in mice and decreases endothelial progenitor cells. To determine the role of bone marrow-derived cells in restoration of neonatal lung structure after injury,we studied a novel bone marrow myeloid progenitor cell population from Tie2-green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic mice (bone marrow-derived angiogenic cells; BMDAC). We hypothesized that treatment with BMDAC would restore normal lung structure in infant mice during recovery from neonatal hyperoxia. Neonatal mice (1-day-old) were exposed to 80% oxygen for 10 days. BMDACs (1 x 10(5)),embryonic endothelial progenitor cells,mouse embryonic fibroblasts (control),or saline were then injected into the pulmonary circulation. At 21 days of age,saline-treated mice had enlarged alveoli,reduced septation,and a reduction in vascular density. In contrast,mice treated with BMDAC had complete restoration of lung structure that was indistinguishable from room air controls. BMDAC comprised 12% of distal lung cells localized to pulmonary vessels or alveolar type II (AT2) cells and persist (8.8%) for 8 wk postinjection. Coculture of AT2 cells or lung endothelial cells (luEC) with BMDAC augmented AT2 and luEC cell growth in vitro. We conclude that treatment with BMDAC after neonatal hyperoxia restores lung structure in this model of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. View Publication

The zinc finger protein growth factor independent-1 (Gfi1) is a transcriptional repressor that is critically required for normal granulocytic differentiation. GFI1 loss-of-function mutations are found in some patients with severe congenital neutropenia (SCN). The SCN-associated GFI1-mutant proteins act as dominant negatives to block granulopoiesis through selective deregulation of a subset of GFI1 target genes. Here we show that Gfi1 is a master regulator of microRNAs,and that deregulated expression of these microRNAs recapitulates a Gfi1 loss-of-function block to granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)-stimulated granulopoiesis. Specifically,bone marrow cells from a GFI1-mutant SCN patient and Gfi1(-/-) mice display deregulated expression of miR-21 and miR-196B expression. Flow cytometric analysis and colony assays reveal that the overexpression or depletion of either miR induces changes in myeloid development. However,coexpression of miR-21 and miR-196b (as seen in Gfi1(-/-) mice and a GFI1N382S SCN patient) completely blocks G-CSF-induced granulopoiesis. Thus,our results not only identify microRNAs whose regulation is required during myelopoiesis,but also provide an example of synergy in microRNA biologic activity and illustrate potential mechanisms underlying SCN disease pathogenesis. View Publication

The number of neutrophils in the blood is tightly regulated to ensure adequate protection against microbial pathogens while minimizing damage to host tissue. Neutrophil homeostasis in the blood is achieved through a balance of neutrophil production,release from the bone marrow,and clearance from the circulation. Accumulating evidence suggests that signaling by CXCL12,through its major receptor CXCR4,plays a key role in maintaining neutrophil homeostasis. Herein,we generated mice with a myeloid lineage-restricted deletion of CXCR4 to define the mechanisms by which CXCR4 signals regulate this process. We show that CXCR4 negatively regulates neutrophil release from the bone marrow in a cell-autonomous fashion. However,CXCR4 is dispensable for neutrophil clearance from the circulation. Neutrophil mobilization responses to granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF),CXCL2,or Listeria monocytogenes infection are absent or impaired,suggesting that disruption of CXCR4 signaling may be a common step mediating neutrophil release. Collectively,these data suggest that CXCR4 signaling maintains neutrophil homeostasis in the blood under both basal and stress granulopoiesis conditions primarily by regulating neutrophil release from the bone marrow. View Publication

Chimerism analysis has become an important tool to manage patients in the peri-transplant period of allogenic stem cell transplantation. During this period,cells of donor and host origin can coexist and increasing proportion of cells of host origin is considered as a recurrence of the underlying disease. We currently performed chimerism analysis on separate peripheral blood cell subsets,lymphocytes and granulocytes. To improve our isolation method,a new automated device from Stem Cell Technology Roboseptrade mark was tested and compared to our manual separation technique. The results obtained on T cell purification showed an improvement of the purity (98.42% with Robosep vs. 92.42% with the manual technique Rosettesep) and of the recovery (63.43% with Robosep and 38% with Rosettesep). The results were significantly improved on patient samples with less than 10% CD3 positive cells (purity: 90% vs. 44.44%; recovery: 73.79% vs. 43.98%). Granulocytes separation was based on CD15 expression. The results showed an improvement of the purity with Robosep (96.90% vs. 86.20% with the manual technique Polymorphprep) but the recovery was impaired (35.2% vs. 52.30%). Using a myeloid (CD66/CD33) cocktail,recovery was improved with the Robosep device (64.04% with the myeloid cocktail vs. 22.4% with the CD15 cocktail). Our data demonstrated that Robosep allowed a performant cell purification in the early period post-transplantation even for populations representing less than 10% of the peripheral blood cells. View Publication

MYH9 disorders such as May-Hegglin anomaly are characterized by macrothrombocytopenia and cytoplasmic granulocyte inclusion bodies that result from mutations in MYH9,the gene for nonmuscle myosin heavy chain-IIA (NMMHC-IIA). We examined the expression of mutant NMMHC-IIA polypeptide in peripheral blood cells from patients with MYH9 5770delG and 5818delG mutations. A specific antibody to mutant NMMHC-IIA (NT629) was raised against the abnormal carboxyl-terminal residues generated by 5818delG. NT629 reacted to recombinant 5818delG NMMHC-IIA but not to wild-type NMMHC-IIA,and did not recognize any cellular components of normal peripheral blood cells. Immunofluorescence and immunoblotting revealed that mutant NMMHC-IIA was present and sequestrated only in inclusion bodies within neutrophils,diffusely distributed throughout lymphocyte cytoplasm,sparsely localized on a diffuse cytoplasmic background in monocytes,and uniformly distributed at diminished levels only in large platelets. Mutant NMMHC-IIA did not translocate to lamellipodia in surface activated platelets. Wild-type NMMHC-IIA was homogeneously distributed among megakaryocytes derived from the peripheral blood CD34(+) cells of patients,but coarse mutant NMMHC-IIA was heterogeneously scattered without abnormal aggregates in the cytoplasm. We show the differential expression of mutant NMMHC-IIA and postulate that cell-specific regulation mechanisms function in MYH9 disorders. View Publication

TRAIL induces apoptosis in a variety of tumor cells. Our laboratory found that human neutrophils contain an intracellular reservoir of prefabricated TRAIL that is released after stimulation with Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin. In this study,we examined the subcellular distribution of TRAIL in freshly isolated neutrophils. Neutrophil granules,secretory vesicles (SV),and plasma membrane vesicles were isolated by subcellular fractionation,followed by free-flow electrophoresis,and examined by ELISA and immunoblot. TRAIL was found in all membrane-bound fractions with the highest amounts in the fractions enriched in azurophilic granule (AG) and SV. Immunofluorescence confocal microscopy showed that TRAIL colocalized independently with myeloperoxidase (MPO),lactoferrin (LF),and albumin,respective markers of AG,specific granules,and SV. Furthermore,immunotransmission electron microscopy demonstrated that TRAIL colocalized intracellularly with MPO and albumin. We examined TRAIL expression in PLB-985 cells induced with dimethylformamide and in CD34-positive stem cells treated with G-CSF. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that TRAIL was expressed in each stage of development,whereas MPO and LF were only expressed at distinct times during differentiation. Collectively,these findings suggest that TRAIL is expressed throughout neutrophil development,resulting in a broad distribution among different granule subtypes. View Publication

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs) with specificity for proteinase 3 (PR3) are central to a form of ANCA-associated vasculitis. Membrane PR3 (mPR3) is expressed only on a subset of neutrophils. The aim of this study was to determine the mechanism of PR3 surface expression on human neutrophils. Neutrophils were isolated from patients and healthy controls,and hematopoietic stem cells from cord blood served as a model of neutrophil differentiation. Surface expression was analyzed by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy,and proteins were analyzed by Western blot experiments. Neutrophil subsets were separated by magnetic cell sorting. Transfection experiments were carried out in HEK293 and HL60 cell lines. Using neutrophils from healthy donors,patients with vasculitis,and neutrophilic differentiated stem cells we found that mPR3 display was restricted to cells expressing neutrophil glycoprotein NB1,a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-linked surface receptor. mPR3 expression was decreased by enzymatic removal of GPI anchors from cell membranes and was absent in a patient with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. PR3 and NB1 coimmunoprecipitated from and colocalized on the neutrophil plasma membrane. Transfection with NB1 resulted in specific PR3 surface binding in different cell types. We conclude that PR3 membrane expression on neutrophils is mediated by the NB1 receptor. View Publication