Galectin mediated tethering and arrest of neutrophils under shear flow conditions

• According to the conventional wisdom leukocyte recruitment to an inflammatory site is initiated by selectin mediated capture and rolling along the activated endothelium. The galectins are members of another family oflectins with affinity for ß-galactosides. Expressed on endothelial cells, galectin-1 and galectin-3 have been proposed to mediate cell-cell interactions during inflammation and tumor cell metastasis, and hence act as an alternative to selectins/integrins under certain circumstances. To begin testing this hypothesis, we examined the interaction of neutrophils -with a galectin-1 or galectin-3 coated surface under shear flow conditions. Both galectins were found to trigger neutrophil arrest in a dose and carbohydrate dependent manner at coating concentrations of ≥ 200 nM, and 1 dynes/cm2 wall shear stress. While, galectin-3 mediated neutrophil arrest was immediate, galectin-1 triggered a brief period of tethering before arrest. Rapidly following arrest neutrophils spread onto the galectin-coated surface. Cell spreading was accompanied by a redistribution of actin filaments, from an initial even staining with FITC-phalloidin to a more peripheral distribution in spread cells. These data suggest that galectin-1 and galectin-3 may act as adhesion molecules capturing and arresting neutrophils at sites knovvn to be less dependent on selectins and ß2integrins. They behave in part like selectins in capturing the neutrophils, but also like the integrins in triggering firm adhesion and cell spreading.

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MEDICINE

MEDICIN

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