Studying Neutrophil Function in vitro: Cell Models and Environmental Factors

Marfa Blanter; Mieke Gouwy; Sofie Struyf

doi:10.2147/JIR.S284941

Studying Neutrophil Function in vitro: Cell Models and Environmental Factors

J Inflamm Res. 2021 Jan 20:14:141-162. doi: 10.2147/JIR.S284941. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Marfa Blanter¹, Mieke Gouwy¹, Sofie Struyf¹

Affiliation

¹ Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute for Medical Research, University of Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium.

Abstract

Neutrophils are the most abundant immune cell type in the blood and constitute the first line of defense against invading pathogens. Despite their important role in many diseases, they are challenging to study due to their short life span and the inability to cryopreserve or expand them in vitro. Thus, research into neutrophils has to rely on cells freshly isolated from peripheral blood of human donors, introducing donor-dependent variation in the experimental data. To counteract these problems, researchers tried to develop adequate cell models, such as cell lines. For those functional studies that cannot rely on cell models, a standardization of protocols regarding neutrophil purification and culturing could be a solution. In this review, we provide an overview of the most commonly used models for neutrophil function (HL-60, PLB-985, NB4, Kasumi-1 and induced pluripotent stem cells). In addition, we describe the effects of glucose concentration, pH, oxygen tension and temperature on neutrophil function.

Keywords: HL-60; Kasumi-1; NB4; PLB-985; induced pluripotent stem cells; neutrophils.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen) (G080818N and G0F719N) and by C1 funding of the KU Leuven (C16/17/010). Mieke Gouwy is a research expert funded by the Rega Foundation and Marfa Blanter obtained a PhD scholarship from the University of Leuven and the FWO-Vlaanderen.