The Regulation of Neutrophil Extracellular Trap-induced Tissue Damage by Human CD177

Neutrophil-induced tissue damage contributes to the rejection in xenotransplantation. Therefore, suppressing neutrophil function could be effective in suppressing xenogeneic rejection. In a previous study, we demonstrated that the ectopic expression of human cluster of differentiation 31 (CD31) on porcine endothelial cells (PEC) significantly suppressed neutrophil-mediated cytotoxicity through the homophilic binding of CD31. Cluster of differentiation 177 (CD177) was recently reported to be a high-affinity heterophilic binding partner for CD31 on endothelial cells. Thus, we hypothesized that human CD177 on PEC might induce a stronger suppression in neutrophil-mediated cytotoxicity compared with CD31. In this study, the inhibitory function of human CD177 on PEC in neutrophil-mediated cytotoxicity was investigated.

PEC were transfected with a cloning plasmid containing cDNA inserts that encoded for hCD177 and hCD31 genes. Neutrophil-induced cytotoxicity was evaluated by flow cytometry after coculturing with PEC or PEC/CD177 in the presence of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. To elucidate the mechanisms responsible for hCD177-induced suppression, the phosphorylation of src homology region 2 domain containing phosphatase 1 was measured by immunoblot analysis.

Human CD177 on PEC induced a significant reduction in neutrophil-induced cytotoxicity. In addition, CD177 on PEC induced a significant increase in the phosphorylation of src homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatase 1 in neutrophils and suppressed NETosis.

These findings suggest that human CD177 suppresses neutrophil-mediated cytotoxicity through the inhibition of NETosis.