Abstract
BackgroundMonocytes play an important role in immune and inflammatory diseases and monocyte subsets are predictors of disease in certain conditions. Expression of the chemokine receptors, CCR2 and CX3CR1 on monocyte subsets relates to their function and can be used in their characterization. Our objective was to determine whether CD14, CD16, CCR2 and CX3CR1 on monocyte subsets are potential indicators of asthma severity.MethodsBlood samples were collected from Saudi Arabian patients with asthma and normal healthy individuals. Six-color flow-cytometry phenotypic analysis was used to identify human blood monocyte subsets, based on their expression of CD14 and CD16 following CD45 gating. Expression of CCR2 and CX3CR1 was analysed on classical (CD14++CD16−), intermediate (CD14++CD16+) and non-classical (CD14+CD16++) subsets and correlated with disease severity.ResultsWe demonstrated a significant increase in percentage of total CD45-positive monocytes in the blood of patients with severe asthma, but the proportion of the individual monocyte subsets was not significantly changed when patients with mild, moderate and severe asthma were compared with healthy individuals. CD16 expression (mean fluorescence intensity, MFI) was decreased on intermediate and non-classical subsets in patients with severe asthma compared to healthy controls. CX3CR1 expression was also lower, with a lower percentage of cells expressing CX3CR1 in the non-classical CD14+CD16++ subset in all patients with asthma and this was inversely related to the percentage of cells expressing CCR2.ConclusionsCCR2 expression on monocytes indicated a tendency toward more phagocytic monocytes in patients with asthma. The differential expression of CD16, CX3CR1 and CCR2 on monocyte subsets in peripheral blood indicates modulation of the inflammatory response and suggests a role for monocytes in asthma pathogenesis.
Highlights
Monocytes play an important role in immune and inflammatory diseases and monocyte subsets are predictors of disease in certain conditions
One study of patients with asthma in Poland showed a significant increase in the frequency of CD14++CD16+ monocytes in patients with severe asthma compared to healthy controls or patients with mild and moderate asthma [22] and it was suggested that this increase in the intermediate population might be a useful biomarker for asthma severity
Expression of CD16 is altered on monocyte subsets in patients with asthma The percentage of blood monocytes was significantly increased in patients with severe asthma (15 ± 2; p = 0.002) compared to healthy individuals (8%), while no significant change was observed in the patients with mild (9 ± 1) and moderate (7 ± 1) asthma (Fig. 2)
Summary
Monocytes play an important role in immune and inflammatory diseases and monocyte subsets are predictors of disease in certain conditions. Expression of the chemokine receptors, CCR2 and C X3CR1 on monocyte subsets relates to their function and can be used in their characterization. Monocytes are likely to play a role due to increased production of monocyte-derived cytokines and mediators involved in oxidative stress, and in determining subsequent macrophage/dendritic cell and T helper cell phenotype and function [6, 7]. As a key immune cell in the bloodstream monocytes have been used to characterise severity of inflammation in other disorders including ischemic stroke and allergic rhinitis [7, 9, 10]
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