Christopher C. Lenox

Pulmonary stromal-derived factor-1 expression and effect on neutrophil recruitment during acute lung injury

The severe and protracted inflammation that characterizes acute lung injury (ALI) is driven by the ongoing recruitment of neutrophils to the lung. Although much of the cytokine signaling responsible for the initial phase of ALI has been elaborated, relatively little is known about the mechanisms governing the recruitment of neutrophils from the bone marrow to the lung in the later period of this disease. Given its previously described chemoattractant effects on marrow neutrophils, we investigated whether stromal-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) (CXCL12) might participate in this later phase of recruitment. Using immunohistochemistry to examine both banked human lung specimens from patients with ALI and lungs from mice with LPS-induced pneumonitis, we found that pulmonary SDF-1 expression increases during ALI. We further determined that both lung SDF-1 protein expression and mRNA expression rise in a delayed but sustained pattern in this mouse model and that the major source of the increase in expression appears to be the lung epithelium. Lastly, we found that expression of the SDF-1 receptor CXCR4 rises in a similar temporal pattern on neutrophils in both the blood and airspace of LPS-injured mice and that Ab-mediated SDF-1 blockade significantly attenuates late but not early pulmonary neutrophilia in this model. These results implicate SDF-1 in neutrophil recruitment to the lung in the later period of acute lung injury and suggest a novel role for this cytokine in coordinating the transition from the inflammatory response to the initiation of tissue repair.

Obesity Is Associated with Neutrophil Dysfunction and Attenuation of Murine Acute Lung Injury

Although obesity is implicated in numerous health complications leading to increased mortality, the relationship between obesity and outcomes for critically ill patients appears paradoxical. Recent studies have reported better outcomes and lower levels of inflammatory cytokines in obese patients with acute lung injury (ALI)/acute respiratory distress syndrome, suggesting that obesity may ameliorate the effects of this disease. We investigated the effects of obesity in leptin-resistant db/db obese and diet-induced obese mice using an inhaled LPS model of ALI. Obesity-associated effects on neutrophil chemoattractant response were examined in bone marrow neutrophils using chemotaxis and adoptive transfer; neutrophil surface levels of chemokine receptor CXCR2 were determined by flow cytometry. Airspace neutrophilia, capillary leak, and plasma IL-6 were all decreased in obese relative to lean mice in established lung injury (24 h). No difference in airspace inflammatory cytokine levels was found between obese and lean mice in both obesity models during the early phase of neutrophil recruitment (2-6 h), but early airspace neutrophilia was reduced in db/db obese mice. Neutrophils from uninjured obese mice demonstrated diminished chemotaxis to the chemokine keratinocyte cytokine compared with lean control mice, and adoptive transfer of obese mouse neutrophils into injured lean mice revealed a defect in airspace migration of these cells. Possibly contributing to this defect, neutrophil CXCR2 expression was significantly lower in obese db/db mice, and a similar but nonsignificant decrease was seen in diet-induced obese mice. ALI is attenuated in obese mice, and this blunted response is in part attributable to an obesity-associated abnormal neutrophil chemoattractant response.

Crosstalk between CXCR4/Stromal Derived Factor-1 and VLA-4/VCAM-1 Pathways Regulates Neutrophil Retention in the Bone Marrow

Neutrophil retention in and release from the bone marrow is a critical process that remains incompletely understood. Previous work has implicated the CXCR4/stromal derived factor-1 (SDF-1) chemokine axis in the marrow retention of neutrophils, yet the adhesion pathways responsible for this retention are unknown. Because α4β1 integrin (VLA-4) and its ligand VCAM-1 play a central role in the interactions of hematopoietic stem cells, lymphocytes, and developing neutrophils in the marrow, we investigated whether this integrin might be involved in marrow neutrophil retention and release. In this study, we show that VLA-4 is expressed on murine marrow neutrophils and decreases with maturation, whereas blockade of this integrin leads to the release of marrow neutrophils. Marrow neutrophils adhere via VLA-4 to VCAM-1, which is expressed on marrow endothelium and stroma, and inhibition of VCAM-1 causes release of marrow neutrophils. Furthermore, SDF-1 (CXCL12) signaling through neutrophil CXCR4 augments VLA-4 adhesion to VCAM-1 in vitro, an effect that is blocked by preincubation with pertussis toxin. In vivo blockade of both CXCR4 and α4 causes synergistic release of marrow neutrophils, showing that cross-talk between CXCR4 and VLA-4 modulates marrow retention of these cells. Taken together, these results indicate that the VLA-4/VCAM adhesion pathway is critical in the retention and maturation-controlled release of neutrophils from the marrow, while providing an important link between the CXCR4/SDF-1 signaling axis and the adhesion events that govern this process.

Effects of acute and chronic low density lipoprotein exposure on neutrophil function.

Mounting evidence suggests that obesity and the metabolic syndrome have significant but often divergent effects on the innate immune system. These effects have been best established in monocytes and macrophages, particularly as a consequence of the hypercholesterolemic state. We have recently described defects in neutrophil function in the setting of both obesity and hypercholesterolemia, and hypothesized that exposure to elevated levels of lipoproteins, particularly LDL its oxidized forms, contributed to these defects. As a model of chronic cholesterol exposure, we examined functional responses of bone marrow neutrophils isolated from non-obese mice with diet-induced hypercholesterolemia compared to normal cholesterol controls. Chemotaxis, calcium flux, CD11b display, and F-actin polymerization were assayed in response to several chemoattractants, while neutrophil cytokine transcriptional response was determined to LPS. Following this, the acute effects of isolated LDL and its oxidized forms on normal neutrophils were assayed using the same functional assays. We found that neutrophils from non-obese hypercholesterolemic mice had blunted chemotaxis, altered calcium flux, and normal to augmented CD11b display with prolonged actin polymerization in response to stimuli. In response to acute exposure to lipoproteins, neutrophils showed chemotaxis to LDL which increased with the degree of LDL oxidation. Paradoxically, LDL oxidation yielded the opposite effect on LDL-induced CD11b display and actin polymerization, and both native and oxidized LDL were found to induce neutrophil transcription of the monocyte chemoattractant MCP-1. Together these findings suggest that chronic hypercholesterolemia impairs neutrophil functional responses, and these defects may be in part due to protracted signaling responses to LDL and its oxidized forms.