Neutrophils are the most abundant leukocytes in circulation and have great phenotypic heterogeneity and functional diversity, making them considered important regulators of inflammatory and immune responses. CD Genomics offers immunomics studies in multiple dimensions to help you understand the role played by neutrophils in homeostasis as well as in pathological inflammatory and immune processes.
Neutrophils are produced in large numbers in the bone marrow by hematopoietic stem cells. These cells are transformed into bone marrow cells under the control of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and thus committed to neutrophil production. During differentiation, developing neutrophils change their nuclei from round to ribbon-like and then to a lobulated morphology, while also expressing various receptors.
Fig.1 The process of neutrophil production in the bone marrow. (Rosales, C., 2018)
Neutrophils are important effector cells in the innate immune system. Neutrophils have three main anti-microbial functions, namely phagocytosis, degranulation, and release of nuclear material in the form of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). In addition, neutrophils respond to various signals, influence the activity of regulatory neighboring cells, and regulate the long-term immune response of macrophages.
Fig.2 The mechanism of phagocytosis, degranulation, and NETosis. (Rosales, C., 2018)
Several immunomics studies based on transcriptomic, epigenomic, and proteomic analyses have now redefined many fundamental concepts of neutrophil development, plasticity, and functional heterogeneity.
Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has increased our understanding of immune cell development, maturation, and functional plasticity. However, fewer sequencing data and experiments have been performed on neutrophils due to the challenging nature of the technique and the relatively low transcriptional activity displayed by mature circulating neutrophils. These limitations have now been overcome by pre-sorting or enriching neutrophils from homogenized tissues, for example, using magnetic or fluorescent cell sorting, or by methods such as CITE-seq.
The recognition that neutrophils exist in transcriptionally distinct subpopulations and maturation states prompts researchers to investigate the role of chromatin accessibility and transcription factor regulation in neutrophil development, plasticity, and function. Epigenomic approaches, such as transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing (ATAC-seq) and chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing (CHIP-seq), have elucidated factors specific to neutrophil gene expression and regulation at the epigenetic level.
CyTOF uses heavy metal-conjugated antibodies to interrogate single cells for surface and intracellular protein expression, which frees them from the limitations of fluorescence detection and greatly increases the number of markers that can be analyzed simultaneously in single cells, while also allowing barcoding and multiplexing of samples. Recently, mass spectrometry has become a common tool for studying the phenotypic and functional heterogeneity of neutrophils in development and homeostasis, infection, inflammatory diseases, and cancer.
As our understanding of the heterogeneity, plasticity, and environment-dependent function of neutrophils in vivo continues to grow, a range of high-dimensional multi-omics techniques is urgently needed. CD Genomics provide a wide range of immunomics services to help our clients to understand the function of neutrophils in the immune system.
Although neutrophils are the most abundant cells in human blood, their study can be challenging. Based on our extensive immunomics knowledge and experimental experience, we offer our clients professional and efficient immunomics analysis services for neutrophils to help them understand the important role of neutrophils in the immune process. Please contact us for more information.
