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Thrombospondin signaling through the calreticulin/LDL receptor-related protein co-complex stimulates random and directed cell migration

The matricellular extracellular matrix protein thrombospondin-1 (TSP1) stimulates focal adhesion disassembly through a sequence (known as the hep I peptide) in its heparin-binding domain. This mediates signaling through a receptor co-complex involving calreticulin and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor-related protein (LRP). We postulate that this transition to an intermediate adhesive state enhances cellular responses to dynamic environmental conditions. Since cell adhesion dynamics affect cell motility, we asked whether TSP1/hep I-induced intermediate adhesion alters cell migration. Using both transwell and Dunn chamber assays, we demonstrate that TSP1 and hep I gradients stimulate endothelial cell chemotaxis. Treatment with focal adhesion-labilizing concentrations of TSP1/hep I in the absence of a gradient enhances endothelial cell random migration, or chemokinesis, associated with an increase in cells migrating, migration speed, and total cellular displacement. Calreticulin-null and LRP-null fibroblasts do not migrate in response to TSP1/hep I, nor do endothelial cells treated with the LRP inhibitor receptor-associated protein (RAP). Furthermore, TSP1/hep I-induced focal adhesion disassembly is associated with reduced chemotaxis to basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) but enhanced chemotaxis to acidic (a)FGF, suggesting differential modulation of growth factor-induced migration. Thus, TSP1/hep I stimulation of intermediate adhesion regulates the migratory phenotype of endothelial cells and fibroblasts, suggesting a role for TSP1 in remodeling responses.

http://jcs.biologists.org/content/116/14/2917.long

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Differential Effects of Two Fluorescent Probes on Macrophage Migration as Assessed by Manual and Automated Methods]

Fluorescent probes have been utilized to label leukocytes for both in vivo and in vitro studies of cell migration; however, the effects of such probes on migration have not been determined. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of two commonly used fluorescent probes on leukocyte chemotaxis. J774 macrophages were labeled with either calcein-acetoxymethyl ester (calcein-AM) or 2′,7′-bis-(2-carboxyethyl)-5-(and 6)-carboxyfluorescein, acetomethyl ester (BCECF-AM), then assayed for their ability to migrate to zymosan-activated serum (ZAS). Cell migration was quantified by two methods: visual counting of cells and measuring cell fluorescence. Using the cell counts, comparison of unlabeled and fluorescently labeled macrophages demonstrated that BCECF-AM decreased the number of cells responding to ZAS, while calcein-AM had essentially no effect. Neither probe significantly affected the number of cells migrating to medium alone. The inhibitory effects of BCECF-AM on cell migration increased with probe concentration (0.1-1.0 microM) and cell fluorescence. Cell viability was unaffected by either probe. In contrast to the results obtained by visual counting, measuring fluorescence of migrated cells did not reveal a significant difference between the chemotactic response of macrophages labeled with BCECF-AM and those labeled with calcein-AM. These experiments indicated that fluorescent probes can affect the chemotactic response and that inhibitory activity of these probes may not be detected when chemotaxis is quantified solely by automated methods.

pdf at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cyto.990190412/pdf

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Septic Shock and Acute Lung Injury in Rabbits with pertonitis

The major goal of this study was to investigate the mechanisms that link the host response to a local infection in the peritoneal cavity with the development of sepsis and lung injury. Rabbits were infected by intraperitoneal inoculation of fibrin clots containing Escherichia coli at 108, 109, or 1010 cfu/clot. Physiologic, bacteriologic, and inflammatory responses were monitored, and the lungs were examined postmortem. At a dose of 108 cfu/clot the animals had resolving infection, and a dose of 109 cfu/clot resulted in persistent infection at 24 h, with minimal systemic manifestations. In contrast, inoculation of 1010 cfu/clot resulted in rapidly lethal local infection, with septic shock and lung injury. The onset of septic shock was associated with a paradoxical lack of identifiable polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN; neutrophils) in the peritoneal cavity. The absence of PMN in the peritoneum was due in part to lysis of intraperitoneal PMN, because the peritoneal fluids contained free myeloperoxidase and induced rapid death of normal rabbit PMN in vitro. Although most animals became bacteremic, only those with a severe systemic inflammation response developed lung injury. These data show that control of an infection in the first compartment in which bacteria enter the host is a critical determinant of the systemic response. Above a threshold dose of bacteria, failure of the local neutrophil response is a key mechanism associated with deleterious systemic responses. Bacteremia alone is not sufficient to cause lung injury. Lung injury occurs only in the setting of a severe systemic inflammatory response and an inadequate leukocyte response at the primary site of infection.

http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/content/163/1/234.long

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Neutrophil-mediated epithelial injury during transmigration: role of elastase

Neutrophil-mediated injury to gut epithelium may lead to disruption of the epithelial barrier function with consequent organ dysfunction, but the mechanisms of this are incompletely characterized. Because the epithelial apical junctional complex, comprised of tight and adherens junctions, is responsible in part for this barrier function, we investigated the effects of neutrophil transmigration on these structures. Using a colonic epithelial cell line, we observed that neutrophils migrating across cell monolayers formed clusters that were associated with focal epithelial cell loss and the creation of circular defects within the monolayer. The loss of epithelial cells was partly attributable to neutrophil-derived proteases, likely elastase, because it was prevented by elastase inhibitors. Spatially delimited disruption of epithelial junctional complexes with focal loss of E-cadherin, β-catenin, and zonula occludens 1 was observed adjacent to clusters of transmigrating neutrophils. During neutrophil transmigration, fragments of E-cadherin were released into the apical supernatant, and inhibitors of neutrophil elastase prevented this proteolytic degradation. Addition of purified leukocyte elastase also resulted in release of E-cadherin fragments, but only after opening of tight junctions. Taken together, these data demonstrate that neutrophil-derived proteases can mediate spatially delimited disruption of epithelial apical junctions during transmigration. These processes may contribute to epithelial loss and disruption of epithelial barrier function in inflammatory diseases.

http://ajpgi.physiology.org/content/281/3/G705.long

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Dipeptidyl peptidase I activates neutrophil-derived serine proteases and regulates the development of acute experimental arthritis

Leukocyte recruitment in inflammation is critical for host defense, but excessive accumulation of inflammatory cells can lead to tissue damage. Neutrophil-derived serine proteases (cathepsin G [CG], neutrophil elastase [NE], and proteinase 3 [PR3]) are expressed specifically in mature neutrophils and are thought to play an important role in inflammation. To investigate the role of these proteases in inflammation, we generated a mouse deficient in dipeptidyl peptidase I (DPPI) and established that DPPI is required for the full activation of CG, NE, and PR3. Although DPPI–/– mice have normal in vitro neutrophil chemotaxis and in vivo neutrophil accumulation during sterile peritonitis, they are protected against acute arthritis induced by passive transfer of monoclonal antibodies against type II collagen. Specifically, there is no accumulation of neutrophils in the joints of DPPI–/– mice. This protective effect correlates with the inactivation of neutrophil-derived serine proteases, since NE–/– × CG–/– mice are equally resistant to arthritis induction by anti-collagen antibodies. In addition, protease-deficient mice have decreased response to zymosan- and immune complex–mediated inflammation in the subcutaneous air pouch. This defect is accompanied by a decrease in local production of TNF-α and IL-1β. These results implicate DPPI and polymorphonuclear neutrophil–derived serine proteases in the regulation of cytokine production at sites of inflammation.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC150852/

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Cross reactivity of three T cell attracting murine chemokines stimulating the CXC chemokine receptor CXCR3 and their induction in cultured cells and during allograft rejection

Recent work identified the murine gene homologous to the human T cell attracting chemokine CXC receptor ligand 11 (CXCL11, also termed I-TAC, SCYB11, ss-R1, H174, IP-9). Here, the biological activity and expression patterns of murine CXCL11 relative to CXCL9 (MIG) and CXCL10 (IP-10/crg-2), the other two CXCR3 ligands, were assessed. Calcium mobilization and chemotaxis experiments demonstrated that murine CXCL11 stimulated murine CXCR3 at much lower doses than murine CXCL9 or murine CXCL10. Murine CXCL11 also evoked calcium mobilization in CHO cells transfected with human CXCR3 and was chemotactic for CXCR3-expressing human T lymphocytes as well as for 300–19 pre-B cells transfected with human or murine CXCR3. Moreover, murine CXCL11 blocked the chemotactic effect of human CXCL11 on human CXCR3 transfectants. Depending on cell type (macrophage-like cells RAW264.7, J774A.1, fetal F20 and adult dermal fibroblasts, immature and mature bone marrow-derived dendritic cells) and stimulus (interferons, LPS, IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha), an up to 10,000-fold increase of CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL11 mRNA levels, quantified by real-time PCR, was observed. In vivo, the three chemokines are constitutively expressed in various tissues from healthy BALB/c mice and were strongly up-regulated during rejection of allogeneic heart transplants. Chemokine mRNA levels exceeded those of CXCR3 and IFN-gamma which were induced with similar kinetics by several orders of magnitude.

full text available by subscription at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1521-4141%28200108%2931:8%3C2521::AID-IMMU2521%3E3.0.CO;2-Q/abstract;jsessionid=7CC3E7F4171070E371E5507EFC332EE3.d03t02

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LSP1 modulates leukocyte populations in resting and inflamed peritoneum

Lymphocyte-specific protein 1, recently renamed leukocyte-specific protein 1 (LSP1), is an F-actin binding protein expressed in lymphocytes, macrophages, and neutrophils in mice and humans.

This study examines LSP1-deficient (Lsp1-/-) mice for the development of myeloid and lymphocytic cell populations and their response to the development of peritonitis induced by thioglycollate (TG) and to a T-dependent antigen.

LSP1-/- mice exhibit significantly higher levels of resident macrophages in the peritoneum compared to wild-type (wt) mice, whereas the development of myeloid cells is normal. This increase, which is specific for conventional CD5 macrophages appears to be tissue specific and does not result from differences in adhesion to the peritoneal mesothelium. The level of peritoneal lymphocytes is decreased in LSP1-/- mice without affecting a particular lymphocytic subset. The proportions of precursor and mature lymphocytes in the central and peripheral tissues of LSP1-/- mice are similar to those of wt mice and LSP1-/- mice mount a normal response to the T-dependent antigen, ovalbumin (OVA). On injection of TG, the LSP1-/- mice exhibit an accelerated kinetics of changes in peritoneal macrophage and neutrophil numbers as compared to wt including increased influx of these cells.

LSP1 neutrophils demonstrate an enhanced chemotactic response in vitro to N-formyl methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP) and to the C-X-C chemokine, KC, indicating that their enhanced influx into the peritoneum may be a result of increased motility. Our data demonstrate that LSP1 is a negative regulator of neutrophil chemotaxis.

http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/content/96/5/1827.full

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Activation of CD8 T cells induces expression of CD4, which functions as a chemotactic receptor

It was previously shown that costimulation of CD8+ lymphocytes results in de novo expression of CD4. This study expanded on this observation to investigate the function of CD4 on CD8 cells. The ability of costimulated CD8 cells to respond to interleukin 16 (IL-16), a ligand that binds CD4 and induces cellular chemotaxis, was examined. IL-16–mediated ligation of CD4 expressed on CD8 T cells was found to induce an intracellular signal that directs migration of these cells in vitro. Thus, expression of CD4 on a CD8 lymphocyte has functional importance and may serve to control distribution of newly activated CD8 T cells in vivo.

http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/content/99/1/207.long

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A Bovine Whey Protein Extract Can Enhance Innate Immunity by Priming Normal Human Blood Neutrophils

Bovine milk-derived products, in particular whey proteins, exhibit beneficial properties for human health, including the acquired immune response. However, their effects on innate immunity have received little attention. Neutrophils are key cells of innate defenses through their primary functions of chemotaxis, phagocytosis, oxidative burst, and degranulation.
A whey protein extract (WPE) purified from bovine lactoserum was evaluated for its direct and indirect effects on these primary functions of normal human blood neutrophils in vitro. Although WPE had no direct effects on primary functions, a 24-h pretreatment of neutrophils with WPE was associated with a significant and dose-dependent increase of their chemotaxis, superoxide production, and degranulation in response to N-formyl-methionine-leucine-phenylalanine, as well as of their phagocytosis of bioparticles. The pretreatment increased the surface expression of CD11b, CD16B, and CD32A receptors. The major WPE protein components b-lactoglobulin (b-LG) and a-lactalbumin (a-LA) were the main active fractions having an additive effect on human neutrophils that became more responsive to a subsequent stimulation. This effect on NADPH oxidase activity was associated with translocation of p47phox to plasma membrane. Glycomacropeptide, a peptide present in measurable amounts in WPE products, was able to enhance the individual effect of b-LG or a-LA on neutrophils. The present data suggest that WPE, through b-LG and a-LA, has the capacity to enhance or ‘‘prime’’ human neutrophil responses to a subsequent stimulation, an effect that could be associated with increased innate defenses in vivo.

jn.nutrition.org/content/early/2008/12/23/jn.108.098459.full.pdf

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Neutrophils exhibit distinct phenotypes toward chitosans with different degrees of deacetylation: implications for cartilage repair

Osteoarthritis is characterized by the progressive destruction of cartilage in the articular joints. Novel therapies that promote resurfacing of exposed bone in focal areas are of
interest in osteoarthritis because they may delay the progression of this disabling disease in patients who develop focal lesions. Recently, the addition of 80% deacetylated chitosan to cartilage microfractures was shown to promote the regeneration of hyaline cartilage. The molecular mechanisms by which chitosan promotes cartilage regeneration remain unknown. Because neutrophils are transiently recruited to the microfracture site, the effect of 80% deacetylated chitosan on the function of neutrophils was investigated. Most studies on neutrophils use preparations of chitosan with an uncertain degree of deacetylation. For therapeutic purposes, it is of interest to determine whether the degree of deacetylation influences the response of neutrophils to chitosan. The effect of 95% deacetylated chitosan on the function of neutrophils was therefore also investigated and compared with that of 80%
deacetylated chitosan.

www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/ar2703.pdf