Neutrophils and galectin-3 defend mice from lethal bacterial infection and humans from acute respiratory failure.

Respiratory infection by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, common in hospitalized immunocompromised and immunocompetent ventilated patients, can be life-threatening because of antibiotic resistance. This raises the question of whether the host's immune system can be educated to combat this bacterium. Here we show that prior exposure to a single low dose of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) protects mice from a lethal infection by P. aeruginosa. LPS exposure trained the innate immune system by promoting expansion of neutrophil and interstitial macrophage populations distinguishable from other immune cells with enrichment of gene sets for phagocytosis- and cell-killing-associated genes. The cell-killing gene set in the neutrophil population uniquely expressed Lgals3, which encodes the multifunctional antibacterial protein, galectin-3. Intravital imaging for bacterial phagocytosis, assessment of bacterial killing and neutrophil-associated galectin-3 protein levels together with use of galectin-3-deficient mice collectively highlight neutrophils and galectin-3 as central players in LPS-mediated protection. Patients with acute respiratory failure revealed significantly higher galectin-3 levels in endotracheal aspirates (ETAs) of survivors compared to non-survivors, galectin-3 levels strongly correlating with a neutrophil signature in the ETAs and a prognostically favorable hypoinflammatory plasma biomarker subphenotype. Taken together, our study provides impetus for harnessing the potential of galectin-3-expressing neutrophils to protect from lethal infections and respiratory failure.

Impact of an Interprofessional HIV Quality Improvement Team on Patient Care and Resident Learning Opportunities.

Introduction: Although human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) care is a recommended competency for family medicine training, many programs report a lack of HIV expertise among faculty. After the departure of faculty with HIV care experience, an interprofessional HIV quality improvement team (HIV-QIT) of physicians and pharmacists aimed to maintain on-site HIV care and retain learning opportunities for residents, using process improvement and panel reviews with a remote HIV specialist faculty member. Methods: This study reports on a multicycle quality improvement pilot project with pre- and postintervention chart reviews between December 2019 and May 2021. All patients received primary care and HIV-QIT chart reviews on-site. We compared patients with integrated HIV care on-site to those receiving external HIV specialty care. Primary outcomes included virologic suppression, CD4 count ≥200 cells/mm3, and adherence to guideline-recommended HIV care. In cycle 1 (January-June 2020), the HIV-QIT reviewed patient charts and sent guideline-based recommendations to physicians. In cycle 2 (July 2020-May 2021), the HIV-QIT implemented several HIV-specific processes, including decision support updates, note templates, order sets, and reference materials. Sustained process improvements included HIV panel chart audits every 3 to 6 months and subsequent provider education. Results: Of 29 patients, more than half (55%, n=16) received integrated HIV care at the primary care site. We found no significant difference in care quality measures between primary and specialty care. Barriers to care completion included missed or canceled follow-up visits, on-site phlebotomy service closures, and declined HIV services. Conclusions: The HIV-QIT maintained on-site HIV treatment and retained experiential learning opportunities through process improvement and specialist-supported care recommendations to primary care physicians.

D121 Located within the DRY Motif of P2Y12 Is Essential for P2Y12-Mediated Platelet Function.

Platelets are anucleate cells that mediate hemostasis. This occurs via a primary signal that is reinforced by secreted products such as ADP that bind purinergic receptors (P2Y1 and P2Y12) on the platelet surface. We recently identified a human subject, whom we termed platelet defect subject 25 (PDS25) with a platelet functional disorder associated with the P2Y12 receptor. PDS25 has normal blood cell counts and no history of bleeding diathesis. However, platelets from PDS25 have virtually no response to 2-MeSADP (a stable analogue of ADP). Genetic analysis of P2Y12 from PDS25 revealed a heterozygous mutation of D121N within the DRY motif. Rap1b activity was reduced in platelets from PDS25, while VASP phosphorylation was enhanced, suggesting that signaling from the P2Y12 receptor was interrupted by the heterozygous mutation. To explore this further, we produced knock-in mice that mimic our subject. Bleeding failed to cease in homozygous KI mice during tail bleeding assays, while tail bleeding times did not differ between WT and heterozygous KI mice. Furthermore, occlusions failed to form in most homozygous KI mice following carotid artery injury via FeCl3. These data indicate that the aspartic acid residue found in the DRY motif of P2Y12 is essential for P2Y12 function.

Phosphorylation on Syk Y342 is important for both ITAM and hemITAM signaling in platelets.

Immune cells express receptors bearing an immune tyrosine activation motif (ITAM) containing two YXXL motifs or hemITAMs containing only one YXXL motif. Phosphorylation of the ITAM/hemITAM is mediated by Src family kinases allowing for the binding and activation of spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk). It is believed that Syk must be phosphorylated on tyrosine residues for activation, and Tyr342, а conserved tyrosine in the interdomain B region, has been shown to be critical for regulating Syk in FcεR1-activated mast cells. Syk is a key mediator of signaling pathways downstream of several platelet pathways including the ITAM bearing glycoprotein VI (GPVI)/Fc receptor gamma chain collagen receptor and the hemITAM containing C-type lectin-like receptor-2 (CLEC-2). Since platelet activation is a crucial step in both hemostasis and thrombosis, we evaluated the importance of Syk Y342 in these processes by producing an Syk Y342F knock-in mouse. When using a CLEC-2 antibody as an agonist, reduced aggregation and secretion were observed in Syk Y342F mouse platelets when compared with control mouse platelets. Platelet reactivity was also reduced in response to the GPVI agonist collagen-related peptide. Signaling initiated by either GPVI or CLEC-2 was also greatly inhibited, including Syk Y519/520 phosphorylation. Hemostasis, as measured by tail bleeding time, was not altered in Syk Y342F mice, but thrombus formation in response to FeCl3 injury was prolonged in Syk Y342F mice. These data demonstrate that phosphorylation of Y342 on Syk following stimulation of either GPVI or CLEC-2 receptors is important for the ability of Syk to transduce a signal.

Phosphorylation of protein kinase Cδ Tyr311 positively regulates thromboxane generation in platelets.

Platelets are key mediators of physiological hemostasis and pathological thrombosis, whose function must be carefully balanced by signaling downstream of receptors such as protease-activated receptor (PAR)4. Protein kinase C (PKC) is known to regulate various aspects of platelet function. For instance, PKCδ is known to regulate dense granule secretion, which is important for platelet activation. However, the mechanism by which PKCδ regulates this process as well as other facets of platelet activity is unknown. We speculated that the way PKCδ regulates platelet function may be because of the phosphorylation of tyrosine residues on PKCδ. We investigated phosphorylation of PKCδ following glycoprotein VI-mediated and PAR4-mediated platelet activation and found that Y311 is selectively phosphorylated when PAR4 is activated in human platelets. Therefore, we generated PKCδ Y311F knock-in mice, which are viable and have no gross abnormalities. However, PKCδY311F mice have significantly enhanced tail-bleeding times compared with WT littermate controls, which means hemostasis is interrupted. Furthermore, PKCδY311F mice exhibit longer time to carotid artery occlusion compared with WT control using a ferric chloride in vivo thrombosis model, indicating that the phosphorylation of PKCδ Y311 is prothrombotic. Washed platelets from PKCδY311F mice have reduced reactivity after stimulation with a PAR-4 agonist indicating its importance in platelet signaling. The phenotype observed in Y311F mouse platelets is because of reduced thromboxane generation, as an inhibitor of thromboxane generation equalizes the PKCδY311F platelet response to that of WT. Therefore, phosphorylation of PKCδ on Y311 is important for regulation of platelet function and specifically thromboxane generation, which reinforces platelet activation.

Impaired Glycoprotein VI-Mediated Signaling and Platelet Functional Responses in CD45 Knockout Mice.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: CD45 is a receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase present on the surface of all hematopoietic cells except for erythrocytes and platelets. Proteomics studies, however, have demonstrated the presence of a CD45 c-terminal catalytic peptide in platelets. Therefore, we investigated the functional role of this truncated isoform of CD45 in platelets, which contains the c-terminal catalytic domain but lacks the extracellular region. METHODS AND RESULTS: We used an antibody specific to the c-terminus of CD45 to confirm the presence of a truncated CD45 isoform in platelets. We also examined ex vivo and in vivo platelet function using CD45 knockout (KO) mice. Aggregation and secretion mediated by the glycoprotein VI (GPVI) receptor was impaired in CD45 KO platelets. Consequently, CD45 KO mice had impaired hemostasis indicated by increased tail bleeding times. Also, using a model of pulmonary embolism we showed that CD45 KO mice had defective in vivo thrombus formation. Next, we investigated whether or not the truncated isoform of CD45 had a role in GPVI signaling. The full-length isoform of CD45 is known to regulate Src family kinase (SFK) activation in lymphocytes. We find a similar role for the truncated isoform of CD45 in platelets. SFK activation was impaired downstream of the GPVI receptor in the CD45 KO murine platelets. Consequently, Syk, PLCγ2, and pleckstrin phosphorylations were also impaired in CD45 KO murine platelets. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the truncated CD45 isoform regulates GPVI-mediated signaling and platelet functional responses by regulating SFK activation.

ELMO1 deficiency enhances platelet function.

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase is an important signaling molecule that, once activated, leads to the generation of phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PIP3). We performed a proteomic screen to identify PIP3-interacting proteins in human platelets. Among these proteins, we found engulfment and cell motility 1 (ELMO1), a scaffold protein with no catalytic activity. ELMO1 is expressed in platelets and interacts with active RhoG. However, the function of ELMO1 in platelets is not known. The focus of this study was to determine the function of ELMO1 in platelets utilizing ELMO1-/- mice. Platelet aggregation, granule secretion, integrin αIIbß3 activation, and thromboxane generation were enhanced in ELMO1-/- platelets in response to glycoprotein VI (GPVI) agonists but unaltered when a protease-activated receptor 4 agonist was used. The kinetics of spreading on immobilized fibrinogen was enhanced in ELMO1-/- platelets compared with wild-type (WT) littermate controls. This suggests that ELMO1 plays a role downstream of the GPVI and integrin αIIbß3 pathway. Furthermore, whole blood from ELMO1-/- mice perfused over collagen exhibited enhanced thrombus formation compared with WT littermate controls. ELMO1-/- mice showed reduced survival compared with control following pulmonary embolism. ELMO1-/- mice also exhibited a shorter time to occlusion using the ferric-chloride injury model and reduced bleeding times compared with WT littermate controls. These results indicate that ELMO1 plays an important role in hemostasis and thrombosis in vivo. RhoG activity was enhanced in ELMO1-/- murine platelets compared with WT littermate controls in response to GPVI agonist. Together, these data suggest that ELMO1 negatively regulates GPVI-mediated thrombus formation via RhoG.

Protein Kinase C-Delta (PKCδ) Tyrosine Phosphorylation is a Critical Regulator of Neutrophil-Endothelial Cell Interaction in Inflammation.

BACKGROUND: Neutrophil dysfunction plays an important role in inflammation-induced tissue injury. Previously, we identified protein kinase C-δ (PKCδ) as a critical controller of neutrophil activation and trafficking but how PKCδ is regulated in inflammation has not been delineated. PKCδ activity is regulated by tyrosine phosphorylation on multiple sites. Tyrosine155 is a key regulator of apoptosis and gene expression, but its role in proinflammatory signaling is not known. METHODS: In-vitro studies - superoxide anion (O2) and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) were measured in bone marrow neutrophils (BMN) isolated from wild type (WT) and PKCδY155F knock-in mice (PKCδ tyrosine 155 → phenylalanine). Our novel 3D biomimetic microfluidic assay (bMFA) was used to delineate PKCδ-mediated regulation of individual steps in neutrophil adhesion and migration using WT and PKCδY155F BMN and mouse lung microvascular endothelial cells (MLMVEC). In-vivo studies - WT and PKCδY155F knock-in mice underwent sham or cecal ligation and puncture surgery and the lungs harvested 24 h post-surgery. RESULTS: In vitro - PKCδY155F BMN had significantly reduced O2 and NETs release compared with WT. WT BMN, but not PKCδY155F BMN, demonstrated significant adhesion and migration across tumor necrosis factor-activated MLMVEC in bMFA. PKCδ inhibition significantly reduced WT BMN adhesion and migration under low shear and near bifurcations, but had no effect on PKCδY155F BMN. In vivo - mutation of PKCδ tyrosine 155 significantly decreased neutrophil migration into the lungs of septic mice. CONCLUSIONS: PKCδ tyrosine 155 is a key phosphorylation site controlling proinflammatory signaling and neutrophil-endothelial cell interactions. These studies provide mechanistic insights into PKCδ regulation during inflammation.

TULA-2 Deficiency Enhances Platelet Functional Responses to CLEC-2 Agonists.

Platelet activation is essential for hemostasis. Central to platelet activation are the signals transmitted through surface receptors such as glycoprotein VI, the protease-activated receptors, and C-type lectin-like receptor 2 (CLEC-2). CLEC-2 is a HemITAM (hem-immunoreceptor tyrosine activation motif)-bearing receptor that binds podoplanin and signals through spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk). T-cell ubiquitin ligand-2 (TULA-2) is a protein tyrosine phosphatase that is highly expressed in platelets and targets phosphorylated Y352 of Syk. We wanted to determine whether TULA-2 regulates Syk phosphorylation and activity downstream of CLEC-2. To that end, we used TULA-2 knockout mice and wild-type (WT) littermate controls. We found that TULA-2 deficiency enhances the aggregation and secretion response following stimulation with an excitatory CLEC-2 antibody or the CLEC-2 agonist rhodocytin. Consistently, Syk phosphorylation of Y346 is enhanced, as well as phosphorylation of the downstream signaling molecule PLCγ2, in TULA-2 knockout platelets treated with either CLEC-2 antibody or rhodocytin, compared with WT control platelets. Furthermore, the kinetics of Syk phosphorylation, as well as that of PLCγ2 and SLP-76, is enhanced in TULA-2 knockout platelets treated with 2.5-µg/mL CLEC-2 antibody compared with WT platelets. Similarly, thromboxane production was enhanced, in both amount and kinetics, in TULA-2 -/- platelets treated with 2.5-µg/mL CLEC-2 antibody. TULA-2 acts as a negative regulator of CLEC-2 signaling by dephosphorylating Syk on Y346 and restraining subsequent Syk-mediated signaling.

Human Gut Bacteria Are Sensitive to Melatonin and Express Endogenous Circadian Rhythmicity.

Circadian rhythms are fundamental properties of most eukaryotes, but evidence of biological clocks that drive these rhythms in prokaryotes has been restricted to Cyanobacteria. In vertebrates, the gastrointestinal system expresses circadian patterns of gene expression, motility and secretion in vivo and in vitro, and recent studies suggest that the enteric microbiome is regulated by the host's circadian clock. However, it is not clear how the host's clock regulates the microbiome. Here, we demonstrate at least one species of commensal bacterium from the human gastrointestinal system, Enterobacter aerogenes, is sensitive to the neurohormone melatonin, which is secreted into the gastrointestinal lumen, and expresses circadian patterns of swarming and motility. Melatonin specifically increases the magnitude of swarming in cultures of E. aerogenes, but not in Escherichia coli or Klebsiella pneumoniae. The swarming appears to occur daily, and transformation of E. aerogenes with a flagellar motor-protein driven lux plasmid confirms a temperature-compensated circadian rhythm of luciferase activity, which is synchronized in the presence of melatonin. Altogether, these data demonstrate a circadian clock in a non-cyanobacterial prokaryote and suggest the human circadian system may regulate its microbiome through the entrainment of bacterial clocks.

Characterization of UBO-QIC as a Gαq inhibitor in platelets.

Gαq plays an important role in platelet activation by agonists such as thrombin, adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and thromboxane. The significance of Gαq signaling in platelets was established using YM254890, a Gαq/11-specific inhibitor and Gαq knockout murine platelets. However, YM-254890 is no longer available for investigators and there is a need to characterize other Gαq inhibitors. The aim of this study is to characterize the specificity of a compound, {L-threonine,(3R)-N-acetyl-3-hydroxy-L-leucyl-(aR)-a-hydroxybenzenepropanoyl-2,3-idehydro-N-methylalanyl-L-alanyl-N-methyl-L-alanyl-(3R)-3-[[(2S,3R)-3-hydroxy-4-methyl-1-oxo-2-[(1-oxopropyl)amino]pentyl]oxy]-L-leucyl-N,O-dimethyl-,(7 → 1)-lactone (9CI)} (UBO-QIC), as a Gαq inhibitor in platelets. Human platelets treated with UBO-QIC showed a concentration-dependent inhibition of platelet aggregation and secretion by protease-activated receptors (PAR) agonists, U46619 and ADP. UBO-QIC also abolished Gαq pathway signaling events such as calcium mobilization and pleckstrin phosphorylation. UBO-QIC had no nonspecific effects on the Gα12/13 pathway since platelet shape change was intact in Gαq knockout murine platelets stimulated with PAR agonists in the presence of the inhibitor. In addition, UBO-QIC-treated platelets did not affect collagen-related peptide-induced platelet activation suggesting that this inhibitor had no non-specific effects on the GPVI pathway. Furthermore, Akt phosphorylation downstream of the Gαi and Gαz pathways, and vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein phosphorylation downstream of the Gαs pathway were not inhibited in UBO-QIC-treated platelets. UBO-QIC is a specific inhibitor for Gαq, which can be a useful tool for investigating Gαq-coupled receptor signaling pathways in platelets.

The role of a Brugia malayi p38 MAP kinase ortholog (Bm-MPK1) in parasite anti-oxidative stress responses.

Filariasis, caused by thread-like nematode worms, affects millions of individuals throughout the tropics and is a major cause of acute and chronic morbidity. Filarial nematodes effectively evade host immunological responses and are long lived within their hosts. Recently an emphasis has been placed on enzymatic and non-enzymatic anti-oxidant systems which counteract the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by macrophages and granulocytes, a first line of defense against parasites. We have characterized an anti-oxidant pathway in the filarial parasite Brugia malayi related to the evolutionarily conserved human mitogen-activated p38 protein kinase and the Caenorhabditis elegans PMK-1 protein kinase stress pathways. We have expressed a recombinant p38/PMK-1 ortholog from B. malayi (Bm-MPK1) and have successfully activated the kinase with mammalian upstream kinases. In addition, we have demonstrated inhibition of Bm-MPK1 activity using a panel of known p38 inhibitors. Using the potent and highly selective allosteric p38 inhibitor, BIRB796, we have implicated Bm-MPK1 in a pathway which offers B. malayi protection from the effects of ROS. Our results, for the first time, describe a stress-activated protein kinase pathway within the filarial parasite B. malayi which plays a role in protecting the parasite from ROS. Inhibition of this pathway may have therapeutic benefit in treating filariasis by increasing the sensitivity of filarial parasites to ROS and other reactive intermediates.