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Constitutive activation of WASp in X-linked neutropenia renders neutrophils hyperactive
Marton Keszei, … , Scott B. Snapper, Lisa S. Westerberg
Marton Keszei, … , Scott B. Snapper, Lisa S. Westerberg
Published August 20, 2018
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 2018;128(9):4115-4131. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI64772.
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Research Article Immunology Article has an altmetric score of 2

Constitutive activation of WASp in X-linked neutropenia renders neutrophils hyperactive

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Abstract

Congenital neutropenia is characterized by low absolute neutrophil numbers in blood, leading to recurrent bacterial infections, and patients often require life-long granulocyte CSF (G-CSF) support. X-linked neutropenia (XLN) is caused by gain-of-function mutations in the actin regulator Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASp). To understand the pathophysiology in XLN and the role of WASp in neutrophils, we here examined XLN patients and 2 XLN mouse models. XLN patients had reduced myelopoiesis and extremely low blood neutrophil number. However, their neutrophils had a hyperactive phenotype and were present in normal numbers in XLN patient saliva. Murine XLN neutrophils were hyperactivated, with increased actin dynamics and migration into tissues. We provide molecular evidence that the hyperactivity of XLN neutrophils is caused by WASp in a constitutively open conformation due to contingent phosphorylation of the critical tyrosine-293 and plasma membrane localization. This renders WASp activity less dependent on regulation by PI3K. Our data show that the amplitude of WASp activity inside a cell could be enhanced by cell-surface receptor signaling even in the context in which WASp is already in an active conformation. Moreover, these data categorize XLN as an atypical congenital neutropenia in which constitutive activation of WASp in tissue neutrophils compensates for reduced myelopoiesis.

Authors

Marton Keszei, Julien Record, Joanna S. Kritikou, Hannah Wurzer, Chiara Geyer, Meike Thiemann, Paul Drescher, Hanna Brauner, Laura Köcher, Jaime James, Minghui He, Marisa A.P. Baptista, Carin I.M. Dahlberg, Amlan Biswas, Sonia Lain, David P. Lane, Wenxia Song, Katrin Pütsep, Peter Vandenberghe, Scott B. Snapper, Lisa S. Westerberg

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Figure 5

Increased actin dynamics and spreading on ICAM-1 in WASp XLN neutrophils.

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Increased actin dynamics and spreading on ICAM-1 in WASp XLN neutrophils...
(A) Live-cell actin kinetics after neutrophil activation with fMLP was quantified by imaging flow cytometry. Plot of circularity and aspect ratio (upper panel) was calculated on EGFP images. Sample images (middle panel) show WT × Lifeact-EGFP cells with increasing circularity. Ratio of irregularly (GFP [aspect ratio]lo GFP[circularity]lo) shaped cells as a function of time (lower panel). Kinetics was calculated after binning data to 30-second time frames. Less than 15,000 cells/each genotype; 2 independent experiments per genotype. (B) Kinetics of WASp Y293 phosphorylation upon CXCL1 treatment was quantified with imaging flow cytometry after intracellular staining of phospho-Y293 WASp. Phospho-Y293 WASp signal was depicted as fold change of pY293 integrated intensity over background (secondary antibody staining only). n = 3 replicates, n = 4 experiments. (C) Kinetics of F-actin polymerization upon CXCL1 treatment was quantified with phalloidin staining and flow cytometry. n = 3 replicates, n = 3 experiments. (D) rmP-selectin–, rmICAM-1–, and rmCXCL-1–coated plastic flow chambers were perfused with bone marrow neutrophils at 0.1 dyn/cm2. Representative images were taken after increasing flow rate to 2 dyn/cm2. Motility was assessed by overlaying 10 consecutive frames. (E) Number of arrested cells were counted and depicted as percentage of arrested cells at 0.1 dyn/cm2 after increasing flow rate stepwise with 30 seconds of run at each indicated sheer stress. n = 3 replicates, n = 3 experiments. (F) Ratio of spread cells at increasing flow rate. (G) Neutrophils in rmP-selectin–, rmICAM-1–, and rmCXCL-1–coated plastic flow chambers at 2 dyn/cm2 shear stress. Black tracks indicate the motility of adherent cells within a 20-minute time period. n = 3 images/genotype. Data are represented as mean ± SEM. One-way (H) or 2-way ANOVA (B, C, E, F) and Bonferroni’s multiple comparison test were used statistical significance. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001. Original magnification: ×100 (D and G).

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