Evaluation of beta defensin 2 production by chicken heterophils using direct MALDI mass spectrometry

Beta defensins (BD) are cysteine rich, cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMP) produced mainly by epithelial and myeloid cells such as neutrophils. In birds, the neutrophil equivalent heterophils produce avian beta defensins (AvBD) of which AvBD2 is the major isoform. Heterophils recognize pathogens or their derived products through a series of pattern recognition receptors called toll-like receptors (TLR) leading to their antimicrobial activities. This work is the first report of TLR modulation of AvBD2 expression in chickens. To measure the effect of TLR activation on AvBD2 production, the heterophils were cultured with different TLR agonists for 6h. Modulation of AvBD2 levels by TLR activation was measured using direct MALDI mass spectrometry without stable isotopic labeling or chromatographic separation. Chemical modification of the conditioned media was performed using reduction/alkylation with dithiothreitol/iodoacetamide to distinguish TLR treated AvBD2 (reduced/alkylated) from controls (non-reduced). Changes in corrected ion intensity ratios were assumed to reflect AvBD2 modulation in heterophils upon activation with different TLR agonists. In general, TLR agonists increased AvBD2 production with LPS showing the greatest induction and CpG-ODN showing little or no effect. These data show that the direct MALDI-MS coupled with reduction/alkylation may provide a rapid relative quantitative approach to the measurement of agonist-induced differential expression of AvBD2.