Differences between female and male immunity may contribute to variations in response to infections and predisposition to autoimmunity. We previously reported that neutrophils from reproductive-age males are more immature and less activated than their female counterparts. To further characterize the mechanisms that drive differential neutrophil phenotypes, we performed RNA sequencing on circulating neutrophils from healthy adult females and males.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeutrophil dysregulation is implicated in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). SLE is characterized by elevated levels of a pathogenic neutrophil subset known as low-density granulocytes (LDGs). The origin and phenotypic, functional, and pathogenic heterogeneity of LDGs remain to be systematically determined.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeutrophils play a key role in host defenses and have recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases by various mechanisms, including formation of neutrophil extracellular traps through a recently described distinct form of programmed cell death called NETosis. Techniques to assess and quantitate NETosis in an unbiased, reproducible, and efficient way are lacking, considerably limiting the advancement of research in this field. We optimized and validated, a new method to automatically quantify the percentage of neutrophils undergoing NETosis in real time using the IncuCyte ZOOM imaging platform and the membrane-permeability properties of two DNA dyes.
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