Blood flow guides sequential support of neutrophil arrest and diapedesis by PILR-ß1 and PILR-α.

Arrest of rapidly flowing neutrophils in venules relies on capturing through selectins and chemokine-induced integrin activation. Despite a long-established concept, we show here that gene inactivation of activating paired immunoglobulin-like receptor (PILR)-ß1 nearly halved the efficiency of neutrophil arrest in venules of the mouse cremaster muscle. We found that this receptor binds to CD99, an interaction which relies on flow-induced shear forces and boosts chemokine-induced ß2-integrin-activation, leading to neutrophil attachment to endothelium. Upon arrest, binding of PILR-ß1 to CD99 ceases, shifting the signaling balance towards inhibitory PILR-α. This enables integrin deactivation and supports cell migration. Thus, flow-driven shear forces guide sequential signaling of first activating PILR-ß1 followed by inhibitory PILR-α to prompt neutrophil arrest and then transmigration. This doubles the efficiency of selectin-chemokine driven neutrophil arrest by PILR-ß1 and then supports transition to migration by PILR-α.

Endothelial CD99 supports arrest of mouse neutrophils in venules and binds to neutrophil PILRs.

CD99 is a crucial regulator of the transmigration (diapedesis) of leukocytes through the blood vessel wall. Here, we report that CD99 acts at 2 different steps in the extravasation process. In agreement with previous antibody-blocking experiments, we found that CD99 gene inactivation caused neutrophil accumulation between venular endothelial cells and the basement membrane in the inflamed cremaster. Unexpectedly, we additionally found that leukocyte attachment to the luminal surface of the venular endothelium was impaired in the absence of CD99. Intravital video microscopy revealed that CD99 supported rapid chemokine-induced leukocyte arrest. Inhibition of leukocyte attachment and extravasation were both solely due to the absence of CD99 on endothelial cells, whereas CD99 on leukocytes was irrelevant. Therefore, we searched for heterophilic ligands of endothelial CD99 on neutrophils. We found that endothelial cells bind to the paired immunoglobulinlike receptors (PILRs) in a strictly CD99-dependent way. In addition, endothelial CD99 was coprecipitated with PILRs from neutrophils that adhered to endothelial cells. Furthermore, soluble CD99 carrying a transferable biotin tag could transfer this tag covalently to PILR when incubated with intact neutrophils. Binding of neutrophils under flow to a surface coated with P-selectin fragment crystallizable (Fc) and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) Fc became more shear resistant if CD99 Fc was coimmobilized. This increased shear resistance was lost if neutrophils were preincubated with anti-PILR antibodies. We concluded that endothelial CD99 promotes leukocyte attachment to endothelium in inflamed vessels by a heterophilic ligand. In addition, CD99 binds to PILRs on neutrophils, an interaction that leads to increased shear resistance of the neutrophil attachment to ICAM-1.

HS1 deficiency impairs neutrophil recruitment in vivo and activation of the small GTPases Rac1 and Rap1.

Neutrophil extravasation is a critical step of the innate immune system's response to inflammation. This multistep process is tightly regulated by adhesion and signaling molecules in the endothelium and neutrophils. Activation of the ß2 integrin LFA-1 is critical for adhesion of leukocytes to postcapillary venules. This step requires coordinated activation of signaling pathways in chemokine-stimulated neutrophils, including GTPase activation and cytoskeletal remodeling, leading to conformational changes in LFA-1. Hematopoietic cell-specific lyn substrate 1 (HS1) is a cortactin-related and leukocyte-specific actin-binding protein (ABP) that regulates several processes in various immune cells. It has been shown in vitro that HS1 is important for neutrophil chemotaxis and transendothelial migration of NK cells, but its role in neutrophil extravasation in vivo has not been investigated yet. Intravital microscopy of CXCL1-stimulated cremaster venules revealed an increased rolling velocity and reduced neutrophil adhesion and transmigration in HS1 knockout (KO) mice. CXCL1-induced rapid neutrophil arrest in vivo and adhesion under flow conditions in vitro were also reduced significantly. Whereas random motility of neutrophils was unaffected, chemotaxis toward a CXCL1 gradient was reduced in the absence of HS1. Further analysis of the underlying mechanisms demonstrated that HS1 controls CXCL1-induced activation of the small GTPases Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1 (Rac1) and Ras-related protein 1 (Rap1), thus supporting LFA-1-mediated neutrophil adhesion. Importantly, with the use of Rac1 KO neutrophils, we could show that Rac1 acts upstream of Rap1. Our results establish HS1 as an important regulator of proper Rac1 and Rap1 activation and neutrophil extravasation.

GDF-15 inhibits integrin activation and mouse neutrophil recruitment through the ALK-5/TGF-ßRII heterodimer.

Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) is the first cytokine known to counteract chemokine-induced activation of leukocyte integrins. We showed recently that this activity dampens neutrophil recruitment into inflamed tissue and is required for survival of myocardial infarction in mice. The receptor responsible for this GDF-15-triggered anti-inflammatory mechanism on myeloid cells is not known. Here, we identify this receptor as transforming growth factor ß receptor I (TGF-ßRI) (activin receptor-like kinase 5 [ALK-5]) and TGF-ß receptor II (TGF-ßRII). We show that interference with these receptors by small-molecule inhibitors, antibodies, or small interfering RNA, blocked the GDF-15 effect on leukocyte integrin activation. Likewise, gene inactivation of each of the 2 receptors in neutrophils isolated from conditional gene-deficient mice abolished the inhibitory effect of GDF-15 on CXCL1-induced ß2-integrin activation and neutrophil diapedesis. Rapid neutrophil arrest induced by CXCL1 in vivo was inhibited by GDF-15 in an ALK-5 and TGF-ßRII dependent way. As for GDF-15 gene-deficient mice, we found that extravasation of neutrophils deficient for ALK-5 or TGF-ßRII was strongly increased in the interleukin-1ß inflamed cremaster. The inhibitory effects of GDF-15 on neutrophil integrin activation and in vivo neutrophil arrest were also found for TGF-ß1. Mechanistically, GDF-15 and TGF-ß1 interfered with integrin activation by inhibiting the activation of Ras-related protein 1 (Rap-1), an effect that depended on CalDAG- guanine nucleotide exchange factor 1 (GEF1) and cell division control protein 42 homolog. We conclude that both GDF-15 and TGF-ß1 counteract chemokine-induced integrin activation on neutrophils via the ALK-5/TGF-ßRII heterodimer. This represents a novel, rapid anti-inflammatory activity of the 2 TGF-ß receptors and of TGF-ß1.