Neutrophils were among the first leukocytes described and visualized by early immunologists. Prominent effector functions during infection and sterile inflammation classically placed them low in the ...immune tree as rapid, mindless aggressors with poor regulatory functions. This view is currently under reassessment as we uncover new aspects of their life cycle and identify transcriptional and phenotypic diversity that endows them with regulatory properties that extend beyond their lifetime in the circulation. These properties are revealing unanticipated roles for neutrophils in supporting homeostasis, as well as complex disease states such as cancer. We focus this review on these emerging functions in order to define the true roles of neutrophils in homeostasis, immunity, and disease.
Classically viewed as homogeneous effector cells with poor regulatory functions, neutrophils are now known to be phenotypically and functionally diverse. Nicolás-Ávila and colleagues review these emerging properties and discuss how neutrophils contribute to homeostasis, immune defense, and disease.
Circadian Features of Neutrophil Biology Aroca-Crevillén, Alejandra; Adrover, José M; Hidalgo, Andrés
Frontiers in immunology,
04/2020, Letnik:
11
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Rhythms in immunity manifest in multiple ways, but perhaps most prominently by the recurrent onset of inflammation at specific times of day. These patterns are of importance to understand human ...disease and are caused, in many instances, by the action of neutrophils, a myeloid leukocyte with striking circadian features. The neutrophil's short life, marked diurnal variations in number, and changes in phenotype while in the circulation, help explain the temporal features of inflammatory disease but also uncover core features of neutrophil physiology. Here, we summarize well-established concepts and introduce recent discoveries in the biology of these cells as they relate to circadian rhythms. We highlight that although the circadian features of neutrophils are better known and relevant to understand disease, they may also influence important aspects of organ function even in the steady-state. Finally, we discuss the possibility of targeting these temporal features of neutrophils for therapeutic benefit.
Immune and inflammatory responses require leukocytes to migrate within and through the vasculature, a process that is facilitated by their capacity to switch to a polarized morphology with an ...asymmetric distribution of receptors. We report that neutrophil polarization within activated venules served to organize a protruding domain that engaged activated platelets present in the bloodstream.The selectin ligand PSGL-1 transduced signals emanating from these interactions, resulting in the redistribution of receptors that drive neutrophil migration. Consequently, neutrophils unable to polarize or to transduce signals through PSGL-1 displayed aberrant crawling, and blockade of this domain protected mice against thromboinflammatory injury. These results reveal that recruited neutrophils scan for activated platelets, and they suggest that the neutrophils' bipolarity allows the integration of signals present at both the endothelium and the circulation before inflammation proceeds.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a novel, viral-induced respiratory disease that in ∼10-15% of patients progresses to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) triggered by a cytokine storm. ...In this Perspective, autopsy results and literature are presented supporting the hypothesis that a little known yet powerful function of neutrophils-the ability to form neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs)-may contribute to organ damage and mortality in COVID-19. We show lung infiltration of neutrophils in an autopsy specimen from a patient who succumbed to COVID-19. We discuss prior reports linking aberrant NET formation to pulmonary diseases, thrombosis, mucous secretions in the airways, and cytokine production. If our hypothesis is correct, targeting NETs directly and/or indirectly with existing drugs may reduce the clinical severity of COVID-19.
Classically considered short-lived and purely defensive leukocytes, neutrophils are unique in their fast and moldable response to stimulation. This plastic behavior may underlie variable and even ...antagonistic functions during inflammation or cancer, yet the full spectrum of neutrophil properties as they enter healthy tissues remains unexplored. Using a new model to track neutrophil fates, we found short but variable lifetimes across multiple tissues. Through analysis of the receptor, transcriptional, and chromatin accessibility landscapes, we identify varying neutrophil states and assign non-canonical functions, including vascular repair and hematopoietic homeostasis. Accordingly, depletion of neutrophils compromised angiogenesis during early age, genotoxic injury, and viral infection, and impaired hematopoietic recovery after irradiation. Neutrophils acquired these properties in target tissues, a process that, in the lungs, occurred in CXCL12-rich areas and relied on CXCR4. Our results reveal that tissues co-opt neutrophils en route for elimination to induce programs that support their physiological demands.
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•Neutrophils have variable lifetimes in tissues•Neutrophils acquire distinct phenotypic and functional properties in tissues•Tissue-derived signals drive rapid adaptation of neutrophils•Neutrophil reprogramming in the lungs occurs in CXCL12+ niches.
Neutrophils demonstrate plasticity in form and function depending upon the tissue types.
Neutrophils are first-responders, providing early protection against invading pathogens. Recent findings have revealed a temporal dimension to neutrophil function, associated with the clearance ...cycles for aging neutrophils, and also with a program that endows circulating neutrophils with distinct phenotypic and functional properties at different times of the day, before they are cleared from blood. We review here the process of neutrophil aging and its impact on homeostasis and inflammation. We outline the features of aged neutrophils, examine proposed mechanisms that drive aging, and discuss how these processes may contribute to tissue homeostasis and pathology. In this context we propose that neutrophil aging may optimize host defense by allowing neutrophils to anticipate infections while avoiding permanent activation and subsequent damage.
Immune protection relies on the capacity of neutrophils to infiltrate challenged tissues. Naive tissues, in contrast, are believed to remain free of these cells and protected from their toxic cargo. ...Here, we show that neutrophils are endowed with the capacity to infiltrate multiple tissues in the steady-state, a process that follows tissue-specific dynamics. By focusing in two particular tissues, the intestine and the lungs, we find that neutrophils infiltrating the intestine are engulfed by resident macrophages, resulting in repression of
transcription, reduced G-CSF in plasma, and reinforced activity of distant bone marrow niches. In contrast, diurnal accumulation of neutrophils within the pulmonary vasculature influenced circadian transcription in the lungs. Neutrophil-influenced transcripts in this organ were associated with carcinogenesis and migration. Consistently, we found that neutrophils dictated the diurnal patterns of lung invasion by melanoma cells. Homeostatic infiltration of tissues unveils a facet of neutrophil biology that supports organ function, but can also instigate pathological states.
Tissue-resident macrophages display varying phenotypic and functional properties that are largely specified by their local environment. One of these functions, phagocytosis, mediates the natural ...disposal of billions of cells, but its mechanisms and consequences within living tissues are poorly defined. Using a parabiosis-based strategy, we identified and isolated macrophages from multiple tissues as they phagocytosed blood-borne cellular material. Phagocytosis was circadianally regulated and mediated by distinct repertoires of receptors, opsonins, and transcription factors in macrophages from each tissue. Although the tissue of residence defined the core signature of macrophages, phagocytosis imprinted a distinct antiinflammatory profile. Phagocytic macrophages expressed CD206, displayed blunted expression of
, and supported tissue homeostasis. Thus, phagocytosis is a source of macrophage heterogeneity that acts together with tissue-derived factors to preserve homeostasis.
Transcriptional and proteomic profiling of individual cells have revolutionized interpretation of biological phenomena by providing cellular landscapes of healthy and diseased tissues
. These ...approaches, however, do not describe dynamic scenarios in which cells continuously change their biochemical properties and downstream 'behavioural' outputs
. Here we used 4D live imaging to record tens to hundreds of morpho-kinetic parameters describing the dynamics of individual leukocytes at sites of active inflammation. By analysing more than 100,000 reconstructions of cell shapes and tracks over time, we obtained behavioural descriptors of individual cells and used these high-dimensional datasets to build behavioural landscapes. These landscapes recognized leukocyte identities in the inflamed skin and trachea, and uncovered a continuum of neutrophil states inside blood vessels, including a large, sessile state that was embraced by the underlying endothelium and associated with pathogenic inflammation. Behavioural screening in 24 mouse mutants identified the kinase Fgr as a driver of this pathogenic state, and interference with Fgr protected mice from inflammatory injury. Thus, behavioural landscapes report distinct properties of dynamic environments at high cellular resolution.
Radioisotope-labelled nanoparticles permit novel applications in molecular imaging, while recent developments in imaging have enabled direct visualization of biological processes. While this holds ...true for pathological processes that are stable in time, such as cancer, imaging approaches are limited for phenomena that take place in the range of minutes, such as thrombotic events. Here, we take advantage of bioorthogonal chemistry to demonstrate the concept of nanoparticle-based fast pre-targeted imaging. Using a newly designed nanoparticle that targets platelets we show the applicability of this approach developing thrombo-tag, an in vivo produced nanoparticle that labels thrombi. We show that thrombo-tag allows specific labelling of platelets that accumulate in the injured pulmonary vasculature, or that aggregate in brains of mice suffering thrombotic processes. The fast kinetics and high specificity features of thrombo-tag may critically expand the application of molecular imaging to the most prevalent and debilitating diseases in the clinics.