Topographical interrogation of the living cell surface reveals its role in rapid cell shape changes during phagocytosis and spreading

Angiotensin II modulates THP-1-like macrophage phenotype and inflammatory signatures via angiotensin II type 1 receptor

Angiotensin II (Ang II) is a major component of the renin-angiotensin or renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, which is the main element found to be involved in cardiopathology. Recently, long-term metabolomics studies have linked high levels of angiotensin plasma to inflammatory conditions such as coronary heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Monocyte/macrophage cellular function and phenotype orchestrate the inflammatory response in various pathological conditions, most notably cardiometabolic disease. An activation of the Ang II system is usually associated with inflammation and cardiovascular disease; however, the direct effect on monocyte/macrophages has still not been well elucidated. Herein, we have evaluated the cellular effects of Ang II on THP-1-derived macrophages. Ang II stimulated the expression of markers involved in monocyte/macrophage cell differentiation (e.g., CD116), as well as adhesion, cell-cell interaction, chemotaxis, and phagocytosis (CD15, CD44, CD33, and CD49F). Yet, Ang II increased the expression of proinflammatory markers (HLA-DR, TNF-α, CD64, CD11c, and CD38) and decreased CD206 (mannose receptor), an M2 marker. Moreover, Ang II induced cytosolic calcium overload, increased reactive oxygen species, and arrested cells in the G1 phase. Most of these effects were induced via the angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R). Collectively, our results provide new evidence in support of the effect of Ang II in inflammation associated with cardiometabolic diseases.

Localisation of Intracellular Signals and Responses during Phagocytosis

Phagocytosis is one of the most polarised of all cellular activities. Both the stimulus (the target for phagocytosis) and the response (its internalisation) are focussed at just one part of the cell. At the locus, and this locus alone, pseudopodia form a phagocytic cup around the particle, the cytoskeleton is rearranged, the plasma membrane is reorganised, and a new internal organelle, the phagosome, is formed. The effect of signals from the stimulus must, thus, both be complex and yet be restricted in space and time to enable an effective focussed response. While many aspects of phagocytosis are being uncovered, the mechanism for the restriction of signalling or the effects of signalling remains obscure. In this review, the details of the problem of restricting chemical intracellular signalling are presented, with a focus on diffusion into the cytosol and of signalling lipids along the plasma membrane. The possible ways in which simple diffusion is overcome so that the restriction of signalling and effective phagocytosis can be achieved are discussed in the light of recent advances in imaging, biophysics, and cell biochemistry which together are providing new insights into this area.

Automated Characterisation of Neutrophil Activation Phenotypes in Ex Vivo Human Candida Blood Infections

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Candida bloodstream infections are difficult to diagnose and treat in humans.

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Infection processes give rise to activation of host immune cells.

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Immune cell activation is reflected by characteristic cell morphology.

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Neutrophils exhibit distinct morphodynamics for different Candida species.

Rapid identification of pathogens is required for early diagnosis and treatment of life-threatening bloodstream infections in humans. This requirement is driving the current developments of molecular diagnostic tools identifying pathogens from human whole blood after successful isolation and cultivation. An alternative approach is to determine pathogen-specific signatures from human host immune cells that have been exposed to pathogens. We hypothesise that activated immune cells, such as neutrophils, may exhibit a characteristic behaviour — for instance in terms of their speed, dynamic cell morphology — that allows (i) identifying the type of pathogen indirectly and (ii) providing information on therapeutic efficacy. In this feasibility study, we propose a method for the quantitative assessment of static and morphodynamic features of neutrophils based on label-free time-lapse imaging data. We investigate neutrophil activation phenotypes after confrontation with fungal pathogens and isolation from a human whole-blood assay. In particular, we applied a machine learning supported approach to time-lapse microscopy data from different infection scenarios and were able to distinguish between Candida albicans and C. glabrata infection scenarios with test accuracies well above 75%, and to identify pathogen-free samples with accuracy reaching 100%. These results significantly exceed the test accuracies achieved using state-of-the-art deep neural networks to classify neutrophils by their morphodynamics.

Recent Advances of DNA Nanostructure-Based Cell Membrane Engineering

Materials that can regulate the composition and structure of the cell membrane to fabricate engineered cells with defined functions are in high demand. Compared with other biomolecules, DNA has unique advantages in cell membrane engineering due to its excellent programmability and biocompatibility. Especially, the near-atomic scale precision of DNA nanostructures facilitates the investigation of structure-property relations on the cell membrane. In this review, first the state of the art of functional DNA nanostructures is summarized, and then the overview of the use of DNA nanostructures to engineer the cell membrane is presented. Subsequently, applications of DNA nanostructures in modifying cell membrane morphology, controlling ions transport, and synthesizing high precise liposomes are highlighted. Finally, the challenges and outlook on using DNA nanostructures for cell membrane engineering are discussed.

EPIC3, a novel Ca2+ indicator located at the cell cortex and in microridges, detects high Ca2+ subdomains during Ca2+ influx and phagocytosis

The construction of a low affinity Ca²⁺-probe that locates to the cell cortex and cell surface wrinkles, is described called. EPIC3 (ezrin-protein indicator of Ca²⁺). The novel probe is a fusion of CEPIA3 with ezrin, and is used in combination with a Ca²⁺-insensitive probe, ezrin-mCherry, both of which locate at the cell cortex. EPIC3 was used to monitor the effect of Ca²⁺ influx on intra-wrinkle Ca²⁺ in the macrophage cell line, RAW 264.7. During experimentally-induced Ca²⁺influx, EPIC3 reported Ca²⁺ concentrations at the cell cortex in the region of 30-50 μM, with peak locations towards the tips of wrinkles reaching 80 μM. These concentrations were associated with cleavage of ezrin (a substrate for the Ca²⁺ activated protease calpain-1) and released the C-terminal fluors. The cortical Ca²⁺ levels, restricted to near the site of phagocytic cup formation and pseudopodia extension during phagocytosis also reached high levels (50-80 μM) during phagocytosis. As phagocytosis was completed, hotspots of Ca²⁺ near the phagosome were also observed.

Cell surface topography controls phagocytosis and cell spreading: The membrane reservoir in neutrophils

Neutrophils exhibit rapid cell spreading and phagocytosis, both requiring a large apparent increase in the cell surface area. The wrinkled surface topography of these cells may provide the membrane reservoir for this. Here, the effects of manipulation of the neutrophil cell surface topography on phagocytosis and cell spreading were established. Chemical expansion of the plasma membrane or osmotic swelling had no effects. However, osmotic shrinking of neutrophils inhibited both cell spreading and phagocytosis. Triggering a Ca²⁺ signal in osmotically shrunk cells (by IP₃ uncaging) evoked tubular blebs instead of full cell spreading. Phagocytosis was halted at the phagocytic cup stage by osmotic shrinking induced after the phagocytic Ca²⁺ signalling. Restoration of isotonicity was able to restore complete phagocytosis. These data thus provide evidence that the wrinkled neutrophil surface topography provides the membrane reservoir to increase the available cell surface area for phagocytosis and spreading by neutrophils.

Ca2+-activated cleavage of ezrin visualised dynamically in living myeloid cells during cell surface area expansion

The intracellular events underlying phagocytosis, a crucial event for innate immunity, are still unresolved. In order to test whether the reservoir of membrane required for the formation of the phagocytic pseudopodia is maintained by cortical ezrin, and that its cleavage is a key step in releasing this membrane, the cleavage of cortical ezrin was monitored within living phagocytes (the phagocytically competent cell line RAW264.7) through expressing two ezrin constructs with fluorescent protein tags located either inside the FERM or at the actin-binding domains. When ezrin is cleaved in the linker region by the Ca2+-activated protease calpain, separation of the two fluorophores would result. Experimentally induced Ca2+ influx triggered cleavage of peripherally located ezrin, which was temporally associated with cell expansion. Ezrin cleavage was also observed in the phagocytic pseudopodia during phagocytosis. Thus, our data demonstrates that peripheral ezrin is cleaved during Ca2+-influx-induced membrane expansion and locally within the extending pseudopodia during phagocytosis. This is consistent with a role for intact ezrin in maintaining folded membrane on the cell surface, which then becomes available for cell spreading and phagocytosis.

Membrane Tension and the Role of Ezrin During Phagocytosis

During phagocytosis, there is an apparent expansion of the plasma membrane to accommodate the target within a phagosome. This is accompanied (or driven by) a change in membrane tension. It is proposed that the wrinkled topography of the phagocyte surface, by un-wrinkling, provides the additional available membrane and that this explains the changes in membrane tension. There is no agreement as to the mechanism by which unfolding of cell surface wrinkles occurs during phagocytosis, but there is a good case building for the involvement of the actin-plasma membrane crosslinking protein ezrin. Not only have direct measurements of membrane tension strongly implicated ezrin as the key component in establishing membrane tension, but the cortical location of ezrin changes at the phagocytic cup, suggesting that it is locally signalled. This chapter therefore attempts to synthesise our current state of knowledge about ezrin and membrane tension with phagocytosis to provide a coherent hypothesis.

The plasma membrane as a mechanochemical transducer

Cells are constantly submitted to external mechanical stresses, which they must withstand and respond to. By forming a physical boundary between cells and their environment that is also a biochemical platform, the plasma membrane (PM) is a key interface mediating both cellular response to mechanical stimuli, and subsequent biochemical responses. Here, we review the role of the PM as a mechanosensing structure. We first analyse how the PM responds to mechanical stresses, and then discuss how this mechanical response triggers downstream biochemical responses. The molecular players involved in PM mechanochemical transduction include sensors of membrane unfolding, membrane tension, membrane curvature or membrane domain rearrangement. These sensors trigger signalling cascades fundamental both in healthy scenarios and in diseases such as cancer, which cells harness to maintain integrity, keep or restore homeostasis and adapt to their external environment. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Forces in cancer: interdisciplinary approaches in tumour mechanobiology'.

Neutrophil Cell Shape Change: Mechanism and Signalling during Cell Spreading and Phagocytosis

Perhaps the most important feature of neutrophils is their ability to rapidly change shape. In the bloodstream, the neutrophils circulate as almost spherical cells, with the ability to deform in order to pass along narrower capillaries. Upon receiving the signal to extravasate, they are able to transform their morphology and flatten onto the endothelium surface. This transition, from a spherical to a flattened morphology, is the first key step which neutrophils undergo before moving out of the blood and into the extravascular tissue space. Once they have migrated through tissues towards sites of infection, neutrophils carry out their primary role-killing infecting microbes by performing phagocytosis and producing toxic reactive oxygen species within the microbe-containing phagosome. Phagocytosis involves the second key morphology change that neutrophils undergo, with the formation of pseudopodia which capture the microbe within an internal vesicle. Both the spherical to flattened stage and the phagocytic capture stage are rapid, each being completed within 100 s. Knowing how these rapid cell shape changes occur in neutrophils is thus fundamental to understanding neutrophil behaviour. This article will discuss advances in our current knowledge of this process, and also identify an important regulated molecular event which may represent an important target for anti-inflammatory therapy.

Mechanistic Understanding of Single-Cell Behavior is Essential for Transformative Advances in Biomedicine

Most current efforts to advance medical technology proceed along one of two tracks. The first is dedicated to the improvement of clinical tasks through the incremental refinement of medical instruments. The second comprises engineering endeavors to support basic science studies that often only remotely relate to human medicine. Here we survey emerging research approaches that aim to populate the sprawling frontier between these tracks. We focus on interdisciplinary single-live-cell techniques that have overcome limitations of traditional biological methods to successfully address vital questions about medically relevant cellular behavior. Most of the presented case studies are based on the controlled manipulation of nonadherent human immune cells using one or more micropipettes. The included studies have (i) examined one-on-one encounters of immune cells with real or model pathogens, (ii) assessed the physiological role of the expandable surface area of immune cells, and (iii) started to dissect the spatiotemporal organization of signaling processes within these cells. The unique aptitude of such single-live-cell studies to fill conspicuous gaps in our quantitative understanding of medically relevant cause-effect relationships provides a sound basis for new insights that will inform and drive future biomedical innovation.