Mutually exclusive recurrent somatic mutations in MAP2K1 and BRAF support a central role for ERK activation in LCH pathogenesis.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a myeloproliferative disorder characterized by lesions composed of pathological CD207(+) dendritic cells with an inflammatory infiltrate. BRAFV600E remains the only recurrent mutation reported in LCH. In order to evaluate the spectrum of somatic mutations in LCH, whole exome sequencing was performed on matched LCH and normal tissue samples obtained from 41 patients. Lesions from other histiocytic disorders, juvenile xanthogranuloma, Erdheim-Chester disease, and Rosai-Dorfman disease were also evaluated. All of the lesions from histiocytic disorders were characterized by an extremely low overall rate of somatic mutations. Notably, 33% (7/21) of LCH cases with wild-type BRAF and none (0/20) with BRAFV600E harbored somatic mutations in MAP2K1 (6 in-frame deletions and 1 missense mutation) that induced extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation in vitro. Single cases of somatic mutations of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway genes ARAF and ERBB3 were also detected. The ability of MAPK pathway inhibitors to suppress MAPK kinase and ERK phosphorylation in cell culture and primary tumor models was dependent on the specific LCH mutation. The findings of this study support a model in which ERK activation is a universal end point in LCH arising from pathological activation of upstream signaling proteins.

Image-based cytometry reveals three distinct subsets of activated granulocytes based on phagocytosis and oxidative burst.

Granulocytes play a key role in innate immunity and the most common functional assays are phagocytosis and oxidative burst. The purpose of this technical note is to use image-based flow cytometry to divide activated granulocytes into unique subsets based on their degree of phagocytosis and oxidative burst in response to different experimental incubations. Prior to the experiments, all reagents were titered to determine the lowest dose that resulted in an acceptable signal to noise ratio. Heparinized, whole blood (100 µl) was mixed with one of two bioparticles (E. coli and S. aureus) and DHE (10 µg/ml) and incubated for 5, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, and 140 min in a 37°C water bath. An additional tube kept on ice was used as a negative control. All subsequent processing steps were completed on ice in the dark to minimize additional activation of cells. After the 37°C incubation, N-ethylmaleimide (15 mM) was added to halt phagocytosis, preventing the uptake of additional microparticles. Suspensions were labeled with CD66b-APC and CD45-APCeFluor780 for 60 min and a fix/lyse solution was added. Prior to acquisition, 7AAD was added to stain nuclear DNA. A minimum of 5,000 granulocyte (CD66b+) events were acquired using a Millipore-Amnis FlowSight equipped with blue (488 nm, 60 mW), red (642 nm, 100 mW), and side scatter (785 nm, 12 mW) lasers. Samples were compensated and analyzed using Amnis IDEAS software (v.5.0.983.0). Image-based analysis allowed us to divide activated granulocytes into three distinct subsets, whose relative abundance changed as a function of both bioparticle type and incubation length. The method described in this technical note represents a potential novel adaptation to common methods of assessing granulocyte function. More research is needed to test and validate our image-based method in clinical conditions that impair granulocyte function.

Generation of a new therapeutic peptide that depletes myeloid-derived suppressor cells in tumor-bearing mice.

Immune evasion is an emerging hallmark of cancer progression. However, functional studies to understand the role of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in the tumor microenvironment are limited by the lack of available specific cell surface markers. We adapted a competitive peptide phage display platform to identify candidate peptides binding MDSCs specifically and generated peptide-Fc fusion proteins (peptibodies). In multiple tumor models, intravenous peptibody injection completely depleted blood, splenic and intratumoral MDSCs in tumor-bearing mice without affecting proinflammatory immune cell types, such as dendritic cells. Whereas control Gr-1-specific antibody primarily depleted granulocytic MDSCs, peptibodies depleted both granulocytic and monocytic MDSC subsets. Peptibody treatment was associated with inhibition of tumor growth in vivo, which was superior to that achieved with Gr-1-specific antibody. Immunoprecipitation of MDSC membrane proteins identified S100 family proteins as candidate targets. Our strategy may be useful to identify new diagnostic and therapeutic surface targets on rare cell subtypes, including human MDSCs.