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-Activated Endothelium Under Flow Conditions:
4 Integrins Mediate Initial Attachment, and E-Selectin Mediates Rolling1

Departments of
*
Pulmonary Diseases and
Haematology, Academisch Ziekenhuis Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| Abstract |
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-activated HUVEC (second or third passage) was studied under
flow conditions (0.8 and 3.2 dynes/cm2). Especially the
role of
4 integrins on eosinophils and E-selectin on
HUVEC was studied. Inhibition of the integrin
4 chain on
eosinophils reduced the number of firmly adhered resting eosinophils to
TNF-
-stimulated endothelium by 43% whereas the percentage rolling
cells increased 2.2-fold compared with untreated control eosinophils.
Blocking of E-selectin on the endothelium reduced the number of
adherent eosinophils by only 23% and 16%. In this situation, however,
hardly any rolling adhesion was observed, and the few rolling cells
showed a low rolling velocity. Blocking both
4 integrin
on eosinophils and E-selectin on HUVEC reduced the number of adhered
eosinophils by 95%. P-selectin did not significantly participate in
eosinophil adhesion to TNF-
-activated HUVEC. Inhibition of both
4 integrins and ß2 integrins on
eosinophils resulted in a reduction of adhered cells by 65% and a
3-fold increase in percentage rolling cells. Taken together, these
results clearly show that resting eosinophils preferentially use
constitutively active
4 integrins
(
4ß1,
4ß7)
for the first attachment to TNF-
-activated HUVEC. In addition,
4 integrins and E-selectin work synergistically in
eosinophil adherence to TNF-
-activated HUVEC. Although E-selectin is
important for eosinophil rolling under these conditions, P-selectin
plays only a minor role. | Introduction |
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In marked contrast to neutrophils, eosinophils constitutively
express the ß1 integrin
4ß1 (very late Ag-4
(VLA-4),3 CD49dCD29)
(3, 4, 5, 6). VLA-4 is also present on monocytes, lymphocytes, and
basophils, whereas its counter structure VCAM-1 is present on activated
endothelium (7, 8). Although selectins primarily mediate rolling
interactions, it has been suggested that VLA-4 on lymphocytes (9, 10)
and cell lines (11) can play a role in this process as well.
For eosinophils, discrepancies exist on the role of
4
integrin in mediating initial attachment to the endothelium. A study in
postcapillary venules of IL-1ß-activated rabbit mesentery showed that
eosinophils utilize VLA-4 and L-selectin for rolling interactions.
However, still 50% of the rolling interactions persisted even though
VLA-4 and L-selectin were blocked (12). Very recently, Patel et al.
(13) showed that eosinophils use
4 integrins
in tethering to IL-4-stimulated endothelial cells under flow
conditions. In contrast, Kitayama et al. showed in a flow chamber model
that
4 integrins did not mediate initial
attachment nor constitutive rolling interactions of eosinophils on
TNF-
-activated HUVEC but only mediated immediate arrest after
P-selectin-dependent initial attachment (14).
In contrast to
4 integrins, E-, P-, and
L-selectin are generally agreed upon as very important molecules in
initial tethering and rolling adhesion of leukocytes to endothelium,
including eosinophils. Under static conditions, eosinophils can adhere
to both P- and E-selectin (4, 15). Under flow conditions, eosinophils
have been reported to accumulate more avidly on P-selectin compared
with neutrophils (16). On the other hand, neutrophils adhere more
efficiently to E-selectin-coated surfaces under flow conditions (17).
In concordance with these findings, Kitayama et al. showed a role for
P-selectin in the first attachment of eosinophils to TNF-
-stimulated
first passage HUVEC and did not see an effect on primary tethering when
E-selectin was blocked (14). Taken together, eosinophils seem to be
less E-selectin dependent for rolling interactions with activated
endothelium when compared with neutrophils. The role of L-selectin in
rolling of eosinophils is thought to be of less importance than E- and
P-selectin. However, L-selectin has been shown to mediate adhesion of
eosinophils to HUVEC under conditions of shear although experiments
were performed at 4°C and no controlled shear stress was used
(18).
Increased expression of VCAM-1, E-selectin, and ICAM-1 is
associated with pulmonary allergic inflammation (19, 20, 21, 22).
Therefore, these molecules and their ligands might be adhesion
receptors for eosinophils to adhere to postcapillary venules present in
the bronchial mucosa. However, many animal models do not lead to a
consensus regarding this issue. An interesting primate model for asthma
showed that anti-ICAM-1 therapy reduces lung eosinophilia and
hyperreactivity (23). In addition, these authors showed that, after
single Ag exposure, anti-E-selectin treatment reduces lung
neutrophilia in primates. In rats, anti-VLA-4 treatment did not
have an effect on neutrophilia (24) or eosinophilia (25). In contrast,
the combination treatment of anti-
4
integrins and anti-VCAM-1 showed a reduction in eosinophil and
lymphocyte infiltration in the lung of mice (26). In vivo studies in
mice showed that recruitment of eosinophils (27, 28) and other
leukocytes (29) at inflammatory sites is mainly mediated by P-selectin.
However, these studies also suggest a role for E-selectin in this
process (28, 29).
In the current study the interactions between eosinophils and
TNF-
-activated HUVEC were investigated in an in vitro flow chamber
model. Special emphasis was given to
4
integrins on the eosinophils and E-selectin on the endothelium.
| Materials and Methods |
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Percoll was obtained from Pharmacia (Uppsala, Sweden). fMLP was
purchased from Sigma (St. Louis, MO). Human serum albumin (HSA) was
purchased from the Central Laboratory of the Netherlands Red Cross
Blood Transfusion Service (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). Recombinant
human TNF-
was purchased from Boehringer Mannheim (Mannheim,
Germany). HEPES incubation buffer contained 20 mM HEPES, 132 mM NaCl, 6
mM KCl, 1 mM MgSO4, 1.2 mM
KH2PO4, supplemented with 5
mM glucose, 1.0 mM CaCl2, and 0.5% (w/v) HSA.
All other materials were reagent grade.
Antibodies
The mAb HP2/1 (anti-VLA-4, CD49d) was purchased from Immunotech (Marseille, France). Two blocking anti-E-selectin (CD62e) mAbs were used; ENA2 was kindly provided by Dr. W. A. Buurman (University Hospital, Maastricht, The Netherlands) (30), and BBIG-E4 (5D11) was purchased from R&D Systems (Abingdon, U.K.). mAb IB4 and mAb DREG56 were isolated from the supernatant of a hybridoma obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Manassas, VA). The mAb WASP12.2 (anti-P-selectin, CD62p) (31) was purchased from Endogen (Boston, MA). The mAb PL-1 (anti-P-selectin glycoprotein ligand (PSGL)-1, anti-CD 162) was purchased from Immunotech. All above mentioned mAbs are functionally blocking Abs. Control Ab W6/32 (anti-HLA-A,-B,-C) was isolated from the supernatant of a hybridoma obtained from ATCC. mAbs were incubated with eosinophils (4 x 106 cells/ml) or with confluent HUVEC layers on cover slips at 10 µg/ml during 15 min before the experiments. The cell suspensions were diluted twice with incubation buffer (final concentration of 5 µg/ml mAb at 2 x 106 cells/ml in HEPES incubation buffer), and the coverslips were placed directly in the system.
Isolation of eosinophils
Blood was obtained from healthy volunteers from the Red Cross Blood Bank, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Mixed granulocytes were isolated from the buffy coat of 500 ml blood anticoagulated with 0.4% (w/v) trisodium citrate (pH 7.4) as previously described (32). Mononuclear cells were removed by centrifugation over isotonic Ficoll (1.077 g/ml). After lysis of the erythrocytes with an isotonic ice cold NH4Cl solution, the granulocytes were washed and resuspended in RPMI 1640 (Life Technologies, Paisley, U.K.) with 0.5% (w/v) HSA.
Granulocytes were incubated for 30 min at 37°C to restore the initial density of the cells. Thereafter, the cells were washed and resuspended in PBS supplemented with 0.5% HSA and 13 mM trisodium citrate, and incubated with fMLP (10 nM) for 10 min at 37°C, to decrease the specific gravity of the neutrophils, but not that of the eosinophils. Subsequently, eosinophils were obtained by centrifugation (20 min, 1000 x g) over isotonic Percoll (density 1.082 g/ml, layered on percoll with a density of 1.1 g/ml), washed, and resuspended in HEPES incubation buffer. Purity of eosinophils was >95%, (and recovery was usually 8090%). This procedure leads to the isolation of relatively unprimed eosinophils compared with conventionally used isolation procedures with immunomagnetic beads (33).
Endothelial cells
HUVEC were isolated from human umbilical cord veins according to
Jaffe et al. (34), with some minor modifications (35). The cells were
cultured in RPMI 1640 containing 20% (v/v) heat-inactivated human
serum, 200 µg/ml penicillin/streptomycin (Life Technologies, Breda,
The Netherlands), and fungizone (Life Technologies). Cell monolayers
were grown to confluence in 57 days. Endothelial cells of the second
passage or third passage were used in perfusion assays. HUVEC was
activated by TNF-
(100 U/ml, 7 h, 37°C) before the perfusion
experiments.
Perfusion chamber
Perfusions under steady flow were performed in a modified form of transparent parallel plate perfusion chamber (36) as previously described by Van Zanten et al. (35). This microchamber has a slit height of 0.2 mm and width of 2 mm. The chamber contains a circular plug on which a coverslip (18 mm x 18 mm) with confluent HUVEC was mounted.
Eosinophil perfusion and evaluation
Eosinophils in suspension (2 x 106
cells/ml in HEPES incubation buffer) were aspirated from a reservoir
through plastic tubing and the perfusion chamber with a Harvard syringe
pump (Harvard Apparatus, South Natick, MA). In this way, the flow rate
through the chamber could be precisely controlled. The wall shear
stress (t) was calculated according to the Navier
Stokes equation: t = (6Q ·
)/(w · h2). In this
equation Q is the volumetric flow rate,
is the
suspending medium coefficient of viscosity (assumed to be equal to
water at 0.01 poise), w is the slit width, and h
is the slit height. The shear stress is proportional to the rate of
flow of the cells and can be calculated as dynes/cm2.
Eosinophil perfusions were performed as individual runs under specific
shear conditions all in a 37°C temperature box. During the perfusion,
the flow chamber was mounted on a microscope stage (DM RXE, Leica,
Weitzlar, Germany) that was equipped with a black and white CCD video
camera (Sanyo, Osaka, Japan), coupled to a VHS video recorder.
Perfusion experiments were recorded on video tape. Video images were
evaluated for the number of adhered cells, the rolling velocity per
cell, and the cluster index, using dedicated routines made in the image
analysis software Optimas 6.1 (Media Cybernetics Systems, Silver
Spring, MD). The eosinophils that were in contact with the surface
appeared as bright white-centered cells after proper adjustment of the
microscope during recording. The adhering cells on the HUVEC were
detected by the image analyzer. The number of surface-adhered
eosinophils was measured after 5 min perfusion at a minimum of 25
randomized high power fields (total surface of at least 1
mm2). Then buffer was perfused, and shear rates
were increased from 0.8 to 2, 3.2, and 6.4
dynes/cm2 each for 1 min, during which high power
fields were recorded to determine rolling velocities at these shear
rates. To automatically determine the velocity of rolling cells,
custom-made software was developed in Optimas 6.1. A sequence of 50
frames representing an adjustable time interval (
t, with a minimal
interval of 80 milliseconds) was digitally captured. At each frame, the
position of every cell was detected, and, for all subsequent frames,
the distance moved by each cell and the number of images in which a
cell appears in focus was measured. The velocity of a cell
(v) in micrometers per sec was calculated from the equation:
v = L/
t(x-1) in
which L is the covered distance (µm),
t is
the time interval between images (s), and x is the number of
images in which a cell appears. The cut-off value to distinguish
between rolling and static adherent cells was set at 1 µm/s. Rolling
velocity classes were depicted, which is defined as the fraction of the
total number of rolling cells in each group exhibiting a rolling
velocity corresponding to the velocity classes as indicated (see Fig. 3
). With this method, static adherent, rolling, and freely flowing
cells (which were not in focus) could be clearly distinguished. Cluster
index was measured as previously described (37). The number of
surface-adhered eosinophils per mm2 was measured
after 5 min of perfusion at a minimum of 20 randomized fields. For each
adherent cell the number of cells in the surrounding area of
1750
µm2 was measured. In the case of a random
distribution, the expected number of cells inside this area was
calculated based upon the mean number of surface-adherent cells per
mm2. The cluster index, set to be the difference
between the measured and the expected number of cells inside an
arbitrary area around the cell, was calculated using the following
equation: cluster index per cell = ||m -
[(X * a)/(A - 1)]|| in which
m is measured number of cells in the rectangle area,
X is the total number of cells in the image, A is
the size of the total image, and a is the size of a
rectangular cell-surrounding area. For each experiment the mean cluster
index of a minimum of 500 cells was calculated.
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Results are expressed as mean ± SEM. Statistical analysis
of the data was performed using a one-way ANOVA against fixed value
with Bonferroni correction, a one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni correction,
or paired Student t test, as indicated in the figures.
P values
0.05 were considered to be significant.
| Results |
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4 integrins are important adhesion
molecules in initial attachment to TNF-
-stimulated HUVEC
The role of different adhesion molecules in eosinophil-endothelium
interactions was examined using blocking Abs. Fig. 1
shows the number of adhering cells per
mm2 (which equals the total number of firmly
adhered and rolling cells) to activated HUVEC (TNF-
, 100 U/ml,
7 h) under flow conditions (0.8 dynes/cm2)
as a percentage of control (untreated) eosinophils. Fig. 1
A
focuses on the adhesion molecules mediating rolling, and Fig. 1
B focuses on those mediating adhesion interactions.
Treatment of eosinophils with the anti-PSGL-1 Ab PL-1 or treatment
of HUVEC with anti-P-selectin WASP12.2 did not significantly
decrease the number of adherent cells, showing the minor importance of
these adhesion molecules under these conditions. HUVEC incubated with
anti-E-selectin Abs (ENA-2 or 5D11) showed a slight decrease in
adherent cells. However, this did not reach significance. When
eosinophils were incubated with the anti-integrin
4 chain Ab HP2/1 only 58 ± 7% of the
eosinophils were able to adhere. Interestingly, a combination of
anti-
4 mAb with anti-E-selectin mAbs
ENA-2 or BBA2 almost completely abolished adhesion. The percentage of
binding eosinophils was only 4.3 ± 1.6% and 5.9 ± 1.7%,
respectively. This additive effect was not seen for anti-P-selectin
treatment in combination with HP2/1 (46 ± 16% adhesion) (Fig. 1
A). In Fig. 1
B, the treatment of eosinophils
with the anti-integrin
4 chain Ab HP2/1 is
shown again. Furthermore, the combination of blocking
4 integrins and ß2
integrins resulted in an additive effect whereby 35 ± 9% of the
cells stayed adherent. This effect was significant (paired Student
t test; p = 0.002). The combination of
blocking E-selectin and
4 integrins is
significantly different from blocking
4
integrins alone (ANOVA with Bonferroni correction: p <
0.005). Treatment of anti-ß2 integrins by
mAb IB4 resulted in 89 ± 7% of adhering eosinophils compared
with control. Also, blocking both ß2 integrins
on the eosinophils and E-selectin on the endothelium did not result in
a change in the percentage of adherent cells (89 ± 12%).
Treatment of eosinophils with the Ab W6/32 (anti-HLA-A, -B, and -C)
compared with control eosinophils (no mAb) showed no difference in
adhesion, 1169 ± 233 and 1292 ± 134, respectively
(p = 0.362, paired Student t
test).
|
4 integrins, and ß2
integrins function differently in the rolling behavior of eosinophils
The role of different adhesion molecules in rolling processes of
eosinophils on activated endothelium was examined using blocking Abs.
The percentage of rolling cells was determined by image analysis of
video images (see Materials and Methods) (Fig. 2
). Fig. 2
A focuses on
adhesion molecules mediating rolling interactions. On activated HUVEC
(TNF-
, 7 h, 37°C), 21 ± 4.4% of the surface
interacting eosinophils were rolling. Blocking PSGL-1 or P-selectin did
not affect percentage rolling compared with the control situation. By
blocking E-selectin, the percentage of rolling cells decreased by more
then 50% compared with control (ENA-2, 4.2 ± 1.8%; BBA2,
8.0 ± 2.0%). A significant increase in the percentage of rolling
cells was seen when
4 integrins were blocked
(44 ± 5.9%). However, blocking both
4
integrins and P-selectin did not significantly differ from blocking
4 integrins alone (54 ± 7.5%).
|
4-integrins are depicted as in Fig. 1
4, again a significant increase in the
percentage of rolling cells was seen (61 ± 8.1%). Simultaneously
blocking
4 integrins and E-selectin resulted
in a too low amount of cells to evaluate the percentage of rolling
cells.
Rolling velocities are shown in Fig. 3
.
The percentage of cells in each velocity class is plotted against the
different velocity classes. Rolling velocity classes are defined as the
fraction of the total number of rolling cells in each group exhibiting
a rolling velocity corresponding to the velocity classes as indicated.
The median and mean rolling velocities are shown in
Table I
. The mean rolling velocity of control
eosinophils to activated endothelium was 4.8 µm/s (median, 2.6
µm/s). Eosinophils treated with anti-PSGL-1 (PL-1; median, 2.8
µm/s), anti-ß2 (IB4; median, 3.1 µm/s),
and HUVEC treated with WASP12.2 (anti-P-selectin; median, 3.6
µm/s) showed the same profile in frequency distribution as control
cells (data not shown). However, when E-selectin was blocked, the mean
rolling velocity decreased to 4.3 µm/s, and the median rolling
velocity was shifted to 1.7 µm/s, although this was not significantly
different from the control situation. By blocking
4 integrins, it was shown that, besides the
significant increase in the percentage of rolling cells, the mean
rolling velocity of the cells increased to 12.2 µm/s (median, 9.4
µm/s). Blocking both
4 integrins and
P-selectin or both
4 integrins and
ß2 integrins resulted in similar velocity
profiles, compared with blocking of
4
integrins alone (data not shown; medians, 12.2 and 10.0 µm/s,
respectively).
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The effects of different shear rates on median rolling velocities
of resting untreated eosinophils and HP2/1-treated eosinophils were
examined. Eosinophils were allowed to interact with the endothelial
surface for 5 min (0.8 dynes/cm2). Then buffer
was perfused with increasing shear stresses of 2, 3.2, and 6.4
dynes/cm2 each for 1 min. Rolling velocities of
at least 100 cells were measured at these time intervals, and the
median rolling velocity of the total number of rolling cells is shown
in Table II
. Increasing shear forces of 0.8, 2, 3.2,
and 6.4 dynes/cm2 had a slight increasing effect
on median rolling velocity of resting eosinophils on TNF-
-activated
HUVEC. The mean rolling velocity of control eosinophils at shear rates
3.2 and 6.4 dynes/cm2 was significantly different
(p < 0.05) from the rolling velocity at shear
rate 0.8 dynes/cm2. The median rolling
velocity of eosinophils treated with HP2/1 increased from 8.6 µm/s at
0.8 dynes/cm2 to 19.5 µm/s at 6.4
dynes/cm2. These cells increased their mean
rolling velocity with increasing shear stresses of 2, 3.2, and 6.4
dynes/cm2 significantly
(p < 0.001) compared with shear stress 0.8
dynes/cm2. The mean rolling velocity of control
eosinophils vs HP2/1-treated eosinophils was significantly lower at all
four different shear rates (p < 0.001)
(Table II
).
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When resting, untreated eosinophils were perfused at shear stress
3.2 dynes/cm2 during 5 min, the total number of
adherent cells was 1089 ± 167, which was not significantly
different from experiments done at shear stress 0.8
dynes/cm2 (p = 0.72,
paired Student t test). At shear stress 3.2
dynes/cm2, strings (cell clusters in the direction of the
flow) were visible. This suggests a role for L-selectin (19, 38). To
address the role of L-selectin in this situation, blocking studies were
performed. In the control situation, strings were observed (Fig. 4
A), and the cluster index was
1.5 ± 0.2. Inhibition of L-selectin by blocking mAb DREG-56 (10
µg/ml) resulted in a cluster index of 0.85 ± 0.2
(p = 0.05, paired Student t test),
and fewer strings were observed compared with the control situation as
shown in Fig. 4
B. Incubation of eosinophils with control Ab
W6/32 (anti-HLA-A, -B, and -C) did not affect the percentage of
adhering cells (103 ± 14%). Also, blocking E-selectin did not
significantly influence the number of adhered cells (102 ± 14%)
whereas blocking
4 integrins did (39 ±
8%). When both L-selectin and E-selectin were blocked, still 30
± 8% of the eosinophils stayed adhered (Table III
). No cells were
attached to the surface when both E-selectin and
4 integrins were blocked, which is similar to
the situation at shear stress 0.8 dynes/cm2
(n = 1). The percentage of rolling cells at shear
stress 3.2 dynes/cm2 increased 1.5-fold compared
with 0.8 dynes/cm2. When
4 integrins were blocked at shear stress 3.2
dynes/cm2, 67.5 ± 14% of the cells were
rolling. In contrast, when E-selectin was blocked, only 13.6 ±
6% of the cells showed a rolling interaction, which did not decrease
further when L-selectin was blocked in addition to E-selectin. The mean
rolling velocity in the control situation was 7 ± 0.5 µm/s,
which is 1.5 times higher than at shear stress 0.8
dynes/cm2. Inhibition of
4 integrin increased the rolling velocity to
18 ± 0.6 µm/s, which is 1.6 times as high as at shear stress
0.8 (Table II
). However, blocking E-selectin did not significantly
reduce the rolling velocity compared with the control situation. Also,
inhibition of both L-selectin and E-selectin did not significantly
differ from the control situation.
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| Discussion |
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-stimulated HUVEC were evaluated using a flow chamber model.
TNF-
-stimulated HUVEC (7 h) was used to induce increased VCAM-1,
E-selectin, and ICAM-1 expression, simulating the vasculature in
allergic inflammation. The influence of inhibition of different
adhesion molecules with blocking mAbs was evaluated with real time
video-assisted image analysis. By determination of the number of
adherent cells, the percentage of rolling cells, and rolling velocity
distributions, we show that eosinophils preferentially use
constitutively active
4 integrins for
mediating the first attachment to activated HUVEC. Also, E-selectin on
the activated endothelium is used for initial attachment, and it
mediates rolling interactions even at high shear stress. Most
strikingly, blocking
4 integrins and
E-selectin together totally abolishes adhesion, indicating the strong
cooperation of these two molecules in eosinophil adhesion to activated
HUVEC and the minor importance of ß2 integrins
under these conditions.
The well-established multistep paradigm for leukocyte-endothelium
interactions describes rolling adhesion mediated by selectins and firm
adhesion mediated by integrins. These processes are divided in time and
place. However, the situation is more complex, since several recent
studies describe a situation in which both tethering and firm adhesion
are mediated by the same adhesion receptors. Clear examples for this
overlapping behavior are the
4 integrins
(
4ß1 and
4ß7), which have been
described as rolling receptors (9, 10, 11, 12), besides their role in firm
adhesion (5, 14, 39). The
4 integrins are
present on lymphocytes, monocytes, basophils, and eosinophils but are
not expressed on neutrophils. Berlin et al. (9) were the first to show
4-dependent rolling of mouse lymph node cells
on VCAM-1 and mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1
(MAdCAM-1)-coated surfaces. Later studies also showed initial tethering
and rolling interactions by
4 integrins of
human T lymphocytes (11) and B lymphocytes (40) in a VCAM-1-dependent
way. For monocytes, some studies show that
4
integrins play a role in stabilizing initial tethering on activated
endothelium (39, 41), and another study showed that monocytes can
tether on VCAM-1 (42). For eosinophils, little is known about the role
of
4 integrins in attachment to inflamed
endothelium.
4 integrins on resting,
nonactivated eosinophils are functionally active for adherence to
VCAM-1-coated substrates or activated HUVEC under static conditions
(3, 4, 5, 6, 43). We confirmed this by performing experiments in which
resting eosinophils bound to VCAM-1-coated magnetic beads or
VCAM-1-coated 96-wells plates. This interaction could be specifically
blocked by mAb HP2/1 (data not shown). However, the question remained
whether
4 integrins on human eosinophils are
functionally active in mediating initial attachment to activated HUVEC
under flow conditions. Thus far, a few groups have investigated this in
an in vitro flow system (13, 14). We used an in vitro flow chamber
assay to study the interactions of the
4
integrins on eosinophils with activated endothelium under different
shear forces. Also, the importance of the rolling receptors E- and
P-selectin was studied, under the same conditions.
We found that inhibition of
4 integrins
(CD49d) by blocking anti-
4 chain mAb HP2/1
resulted in more than a 40% decrease in the total number of adhering
eosinophils to TNF-
-activated HUVEC (7 h, 100 U/ml) whereas blocking
E-selectin or P-selectin did not have a significant effect on adhesion.
Remarkably, by blocking both
4 integrin and
E-selectin the percentage of adhered eosinophils decreased by more than
95% (Fig. 1
). This was found for each of the two anti-E-selectin
Abs (ENA-2 and 5D11) that were tested. In contrast, no synergistic
effect was seen when both
4 integrins and
P-selectin were blocked. We conclude that in our system both
4 integrins and E-selectin are important for
the first attachment to activated HUVEC at shear stress 0.8
dynes/cm2. In contrast with another report (14),
P-selectin does not play a role under these conditions (see below).
Thus,
4 integrins and E-selectin together are
responsible for initial attachment and work synergistically in our
model.
These results are in disagreement with the study of Kitayama et al.
(14). These authors concluded that
4 integrins
play a minor role in initial attachment whereas we did find a major
role for
4 in this process. They also showed
that P-selectin and not E-selectin is important in eosinophil rolling
on TNF-
-stimulated HUVEC (6 h, 100 U/ml). These differences are
difficult to explain. However, two considerations must be taken in
account. 1) The (pre)activation status of eosinophils is of major
importance in this type of studies. Eosinophils from mild eosinophilic
donors (44) or cells isolated via different isolation procedures (33, 44) might have been preactivated and might have up-regulated their
ß2 integrins and thereby have altered adhesion
characteristics to endothelial cells (see below). 2) We used second
passage HUVEC, which did not express an appreciable amount of
P-selectin (data not shown), whereas Kitayama et al. used first passage
HUVEC possibly expressing sufficient amounts of P-selectin (39, 42, 45). P-selectin can be expressed significantly on HUVEC in response to
stimulation with histamine (46) or thrombin (31, 47). However, another
important source for P-selectin is platelets. In this light, we
recently showed that activated and P-selectin-expressing platelets can
bind leukocytes, thereby facilitating P-selectin-dependent secondary
tethering to the
surface.4
Interestingly, platelets have been shown to adhere to eosinophils of
allergic donors and might contribute to P-selectin-mediated
interactions between eosinophils and endothelial cells (48). In our
studies, eosinophils were carefully studied, and no attached platelets
were present on the cell surface.
Blocking the ß2 integrins did not result in a
significant decrease in adhesion whereas the combination of
anti-
4 and
anti-ß2 resulted in a percentage of
adherent cells of 35 ± 9% compared with the control situation
(Fig. 1
). This 65% reduction, significantly different from
anti-
4 treatment alone, suggests that
ß2 integrins play only a minor role for resting
eosinophil adherence to activated HUVEC. In contrast, Kitayama et al.
(14) and Patel (13) showed that the combination of
anti-ß2 integrins and
anti-
4 integrins totally abolished
accumulation of eosinophils on 6-h TNF-
-activated HUVEC and 24-h
IL-4-activated HUVEC, respectively. This suggests differences in the
activating state of the ß2 integrins of
eosinophils isolated by different methods (see above). The combination
of blocking ß2 integrins and E-selectin did not
have a significant effect on adhesion compared with control. This
further suggests that
4 integrins are
perfectly capable of mediating initial attachment to the endothelium
under these conditions.
Although eosinophils express less sialylated
Lewisx (Slex) than
neutrophils, causing these cells to bind E-selectin less avidly (49),
neutrophils as well as eosinophils are able to roll on E-selectin (50).
Our results (Fig. 2
) also show that eosinophils roll on E-selectin
because inhibition of E-selectin results in immediate arrest of more
than 90% of surface-interacting cells. This
4-dependent immediate arrest was also shown by
others for eosinophils (13, 14) and monoblastoid and lymphoblastoid
cells (51). When
4 integrins were blocked,
however, eosinophils rolled on the surface using E-selectin. The
anti-
4-treated cells rolled faster
compared with untreated control eosinophils. This suggests that the
4 integrin/VCAM-1 interaction decreases cell
rolling velocity. Simultaneous inhibition of
4
and ß2 integrins did not result in higher
rolling velocities (Fig. 3
, Table I
), thereby confirming the unprimed
phenotype of eosinophils (52, 53). Blocking E-selectin reduced the
rolling velocity of the eosinophils whereas PSGL-1 did not. This
indicates that PSGL-1 is not the ligand for E-selectin on eosinophils.
Alternatively, one (or more) of the known E-selectin ligands (cutaneous
lymphocyte Ag (CLA) (54), E-selectin ligand 1 (ESL-1) (55), and/or
L-selectin (56)) might be involved.
Next we wanted to test the resistance of the rolling interactions of
eosinophils on activated HUVEC. Therefore, the shear stress was
increased at the end of 5 min cell perfusion from 0.8 to 2, 3.2, and
6.4 dynes/cm2 each for 1 min (Table II
). Rolling
velocities of resting eosinophils increased with increasing shear
stresses (0.8 to 2, 3.2, and 6.4 dynes/cm2) and a significant
difference between mean rolling velocities was found between 0.8 and
6.4 dynes/cm2. When these shear forces were
applied to anti-
4 integrin-treated
eosinophils, cells rolled with rolling velocities that were at least
two times higher at all four different shear stresses. These results
again show that
4 integrins are also active in
reducing the rolling velocity at high shear stress.
At shear stress 0.8 dynes/cm2, L-selectin played
a minor role in eosinophil recruitment to the activated endothelium
(data not shown). It is known that L-selectin is functionally important
above a certain shear rate threshold (39, 42). To address the
importance of L-selectin on eosinophils, which was shown to mediate
adhesion to activated endothelium under shear (18), we applied 3.2
dynes/cm2 to the system during 5 min (Fig. 4
).
L-selectin-dependent tethering with formation of cell clustering became
important in the eosinophil recruitment to TNF-
-activated HUVEC at
this shear stress. Inhibition of both
4 integrins and
E-selectin totally abolished adhesion of eosinophils, as was also seen
at shear stress 0.8 dynes/cm2, suggesting that
L-selectin mediates only secondary tethering processes at high shear
stresses. Remarkably, inhibition of both L-selectin and E-selectin
resulted in a residual binding of 30 ± 8% of the eosinophils
compared with the control situation (Table III
). Thus, even at high
shear stress,
4 integrins are functional in
mediating initial attachment to activated endothelium.
In conclusion, we show that resting eosinophils use constitutively
active
4 integrins and, to a lesser extent,
E-selectin on TNF-
-activated HUVEC for initial attachment under flow
conditions. Also, E-selectin can mediate stable rolling interactions
even at high shear stresses. These data give new insights in the way
eosinophils can get recruited to inflamed endothelium and emphasize the
importance of E-selectin as a rolling receptor for eosinophils on
TNF-
-activated endothelium. The importance of identification of the
mechanisms involved in eosinophil extravasation is that it might lead
to development of specific antagonists of this process, which might be
used as targets for specific antiallergic treatment.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
| Footnotes |
|---|
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Leo Koenderman, Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Academisch Ziekenhuis Utrecht, F02.333, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands. E-mail address: ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: VLA-4, very late Ag-4; PSGL-1, P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1; HSA, human serum albumin. ![]()
4 P. H. M. Kuijper, J. J. Zwaginga, J. A. M. van der Linden, H. Gallardo-Torres, J.-W. J. Lammers, and L. Koenderman. Monocyte-associated platelets mediate P-selectin-dependent secondary tethering under flow conditions. Submitted for publication. ![]()
Received for publication November 20, 1998. Accepted for publication April 7, 1999.
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|---|
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4 integrins mediate lymphocyte attachment and rolling under physiologic flow. Cell 80:413.[Medline]
4 integrin have distinct roles in eosinophil tethering and arrest on vascular endothelial cells under physiological flow conditions. J. Immunol. 159:3929.[Abstract]
4-integrin, P-selectin, and E-selectin in an allergic model of inflammation. J. Exp. Med. 185:1077.
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