Kinetics of Neutrophil Subsets in Acute, Subacute, and Chronic Inflammation

Abstract

At homeostasis the vast majority of neutrophils in the circulation expresses CD16 and CD62L within a narrow expression range, but this quickly changes in disease. Little is known regarding the changes in kinetics of neutrophils phenotypes in inflammatory conditions. During acute inflammation more heterogeneity was found, characterized by an increase in CD16^dim banded neutrophils. These cells were probably released from the bone marrow (left shift). Acute inflammation induced by human experimental endotoxemia (LPS model) was additionally accompanied by an immediate increase in a CD62L^low neutrophil population, which was not as explicit after injury/trauma induced acute inflammation. The situation in sub-acute inflammation was more complex. CD62L^low neutrophils appeared in the peripheral blood several days (>3 days) after trauma with a peak after 10 days. A similar situation was found in the blood of COVID-19 patients returning from the ICU. Sorted CD16^low and CD62L^low subsets from trauma and COVID-19 patients displayed the same nuclear characteristics as found after experimental endotoxemia. In diseases associated with chronic inflammation (stable COPD and treatment naive HIV) no increases in CD16^low or CD62L^low neutrophils were found in the peripheral blood. All neutrophil subsets were present in the bone marrow during homeostasis. After LPS rechallenge, these subsets failed to appear in the circulation, but continued to be present in the bone marrow, suggesting the absence of recruitment signals. Because the subsets were reported to have different functionalities, these results on the kinetics of neutrophil subsets in a range of inflammatory conditions contribute to our understanding on the role of neutrophils in health and disease.

Keywords: CD16; CD62L; acute inflammation; chronic inflammation; morphology; neutrophil subsets; neutrophils; subacute inflammation.