Abstract
Neutrophils are also known to acquire the characteristics of dendritic cells (DCs) under the appropriate conditions. In this study, neutrophils were cultivated in vitro in the presence or absence of compounds modulating their survival in an attempt to characterize the expression profile of the DC markers. Higher MHC-II, CD80, CD86, CD83, and CD40 expression levels were detected on the surface of the cultured neutrophils for 24 h than on the freshly isolated cells. The annexin V-positive cells showed a higher expression level of the DC markers than the annexin V-negative cells. The population of neutrophils double stained with annexin V and the DC markers increased after being incubated with agonistic anti-Fas Ab. LPS, the anti-apoptotic compound, decreased the CD86 and MHC-II expression levels but 50-60% of the DC marker-positive cells were detected in the annexin V-positive cells. In contrast, CD80, CD86, CD83, and HLA-DR mRNA levels increased in the GM-CSF-treated neutrophils but not in the anti-Fas Ab-treated neutrophils. T cell proliferation was inhibited by co-culturing them with anti-Fas Ab- or LPS-treated neutrophils at a high neutrophil:T cell ratio. However, the superantigen-mediated T cell proliferation was increased by the LPS-treated neutrophils but decreased by the anti-Fas Ab-treated neutrophils. There was a lower level of interferon-gamma production in the T cells co-cultured with anti-Fas Ab-treated neutrophils than with the LPS-treated neutrophils. This suggests that apoptotic neutrophils express DC markers on their surface and the differential expression of DC markers might have a detrimental effect on the immune reaction.
Highlights
Neutrophils play an important role in the innate immune response by rapidly migrating into inflamed tissues, releasing proteolytic enzymes, and producing reactive oxygen species (Burg and Pillinger, 2001)
This study showed that the num ber of neutrophils expressing MHC-II, co-stimulatory molecules, and CD83 was increased by culturing neutrophils for 24 h without any cytokines
It is unclear whether cells expressing dendritic cell (DC) markers go into apoptosis or cells that become apoptotic express DC markers
Summary
Neutrophils play an important role in the innate immune response by rapidly migrating into inflamed tissues, releasing proteolytic enzymes, and producing reactive oxygen species (Burg and Pillinger, 2001). Neutrophils have been implicated in modulating the adaptive immune responses. The release of cytokines from neutrophils modulates the T cell responses, such as chemotaxis and cytokine secretion (Taub et al, 1996). Human peripheral blood and inflammatory neutrophils express functional B7-1-like molecules, and the expression of these molecules is upregulated by the neutrophils of patients with chronic inflammatory disease or Wegener’s granulomatosis (Windhagen et al, 1999; Iking-Konert et al, 2001b, 2002). Neutrophils and immature DCs co-localize during pathogenic challenge (van Gisbergen et al, 2005). It appears that neutrophils are capable of up-regulating molecules to present an antigen against naive T cells or can differentiate into DCs through the appropriate stimuli
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