Myeloperoxidase deficiency enhances zymosan phagocytosis associated with up-regulation of surface expression of CD11b in mouse neutrophils

Abstract

Myeloperoxidase (MPO), a major component of neutrophils, catalyzes the production of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) from hydrogen peroxide and chloride anion. Phagocytosis is a critical event induced by neutrophils for host defense and inflammation. Interestingly, we found that MPO-deficient (MPO^−/−) neutrophils engulfed larger amounts of zymosan than wild-type neutrophils. Blocking of the CD11b subunit of complement receptor 3 (CR3) as well as inhibition of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) dramatically reduced zymosan phagocytosis. In contrast, blocking of dectin-1, toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), or spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) had no significant effects on phagocytosis. Western blotting analysis showed that inhibition of FAK decreased the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, indicating that ERK1/2 is a downstream regulator of FAK in neutrophils. Importantly, we found that cell surface expression of CD11b and phosphorylation of ERK1/2 was significantly higher in zymosan-stimulated MPO^−/− neutrophils than in zymosan-stimulated wild-type neutrophils. Pretreatment with the MPO inhibitor 4-aminobenzoic acid hydrazide dramatically enhanced both zymosan phagocytosis and the surface expression of CD11b in wild-type neutrophils, but not in MPO^−/− neutrophils. Collectively, these results strongly suggest that up-regulation of the CD11b/FAK/ERK signaling pathway due to absence of MPO enhances the zymosan phagocytic activity of mouse neutrophils.

Keywords:

• Phagocytosis
• myeloperoxidase
• reactive oxygen species
• CD11b
• mitogen-activated protein kinase

Acknowledgements

We thank Daiki Endo and Noriko Matsumoto for technical support.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.