Increased pro-inflammatory mediators leads to Leukocyte recruitment/activation

Circulating blood leukocytes are required to migrate to sites of injury and infection with the aim to eliminate the primary inflammatory trigger and contribute to tissue repair. In this process are involved selectins (expressed both on leukocytes and endothelium) and integrins (expressed on leukocytes) (von Andrian et al., 1991), with the essential role of the vascular endothelium.

Fast activation of the endothelium with inflammatory stimuli such as histamine and PAF (type I) or slow activation with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) or cytokine interleukin-1 β (IL-1β) (type II), makes the surface of endothelium adhesive (Bevilacqua and Gimbrone, 1987; Pober and Sessa, 2007). This transformation is mediated by a transcriptionally regulated program involving the nuclear factor NF-kB dependent pathway triggered by pro-inflammatory cytokines or bacterial endotoxins (reviewed by Collins et al., 1995).

Integrins mediate attachment between cells or to basement membrane. The β2 integrin family is exclusively expressed on leukocytes and is essential for leukocyte arrest on the endothelium and for migration across the endothelium (Ley et al., 2007). In unstimulated leukocytes integrins are usually in a conformation with low binding affinity, until they receive signals from other receptors, such as chemokine receptors (G-protein-coupled receptors), when they change their conformation and display high affinity for ligands (Luo et al., 2007). Chemokines activate β1 or β2 integrins on monocytes, neutrophils, and lymphocytes and as such serve as chemoattractant for these cells during inflammation (Huber et al., 1991; Tanaka et al., 1993; Gunn et al., 1998).

The chemokines are a family of structurally related cytokines that can act as pro-inflammatory agents (Baggiolini et al., 1994; Vaddi et al., 1997). They have the ability to attract leukocyte subsets to specific sites. They recruit neutrophils, monocytes, natural killer cells (NK) and natural killer T (NKT) cells, all of which express inflammatory chemokine receptors and immature dendritic cells (DCs) that provide the link between innate and adaptive immunity (Oo et al., 2010). After antigen-specific activation of lymphocytes by activated DCs, inflammatory chemokines then attract antigen-specific effector T cells to the inflammatory site (Heydtmann and Adams, 2002).

During diapedesis, leukocytes migrate across the endothelium and basement membrane to enter tissue (Ley et al., 2007; Yadav et al., 2003). Once in tissue, the leukocyte follows chemokine gradients to sites of inflammation, using chemokine-mediated changes in the actin cytoskeleton to propel migration. For example, it was demonstrated that chemokines CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL11 are important not only in adhesion, but also in transmigration of effectors T lymphocytes through hepatic endothelium (Curbishley et al., 2005; Eksteen et al., 2004). Intracellular actin reorganization is a prerequisite for cell movement, and it has been shown that chemokines such as SDF-1 induce and increase intracellular filamentous actin in lymphocytes (Bleul et al., 1996).

There is essential role of interleukins, but also other factors such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interferon (IFN) in leukocyte recruitment and production of chemokines.

Normally, IL-1β binds to IL-1R1 receptor on the surface of target cells. Following ligand binding the adaptor molecule, myeloid differentiation factor-88 (MyD88), interacts with IL-1R1 via its toll interleukin receptor (TIR) domain (O'Neill, 2008). Signal transduction leads to activation of both mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and the transcription factor NF-kB, and resulting in pro-inflammatory cytokine expression. For example, chemokine RANTES production requires the transcription factor NF-kB and the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) (Genin et al., 2000; Miyamoto et al., 2000; Kujime et al., 2000, Maruoka et al., 2000; Yang et al., 2000).

TNF-α cleavage produces an intracellular domain that translocates to the nucleus and induces pro-inflammatory cytokine signalling, particularly the expression of IL-12 (Friedman et al., 2006). IL-18 induces natural killer and natural killer T cells to produce IFN-γ (Okamura et al., 1998), but it requires IL-12 to induce IFN-γ production by Th1 cells (Nakanishi et al., 2001). There is an essential role of IFN-I in promoting the chronic recruitment of Ly6Chi monocytes. IFN-I production is elicited via a toll like receptor-7 (TLR-7) and MyD88-dependent pathway (Lee et al., 2008).

While CXC-chemokines, e.g. IL-8, act mostly on neutrophils (Springer, 1995), members of the CC-chemokines, e.g. RANTES and macrophage inflammatory protein have been shown to exert function on monocytes, eosinophils and lymphocytes (Baggiolini et al., 1994; Carr et al., 1994). This depends on the receptors that are expressed on leukocytes. Th1 express preferentially CCR5 and CXCR3, while Th2 cells have CCR3, CCR4 and CCR8 on their surface (Syrbe et al., 1999). Monocytes and macrophages express CCR5 and other receptors for RANTES (Weber et al., 2000).

RANTES chemokine is produced by many cells in the extravascular compartment, including fibroblasts, epithelial cells, and tissue-infiltrating lymphocytes and monocytes (MacEwan, 2002; Hehlgans and Männel, 2002; Black et al., 1997). It acts as a potent chemoattractant for monocytes, memory T cells, eosinophils, and basophils (Schall et al., 1988, 1990; Baggiolini and Dahinden, 1994). Elevated levels of RANTES transcripts are detected within hours of exposure to pro-inflammatory stimuli, including IL-1β, TNF-α, IFN-γ, viruses and LPS (Barnes et al., 1996).

Human (Bleul et al., 1996; Miyamoto et al., 2000; Yamada et al., 2001; Sun et al., 2015)

Sheep (Nikiforou et al., 2016)

Mouse (Narumi et al., 1992; Fahy et al., 2001; Lee et al., 2009)