Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Aug 10;57(8):814.
doi: 10.3390/medicina57080814.

Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Augmentation Inhibits Proteolysis of Neutrophil Membrane Voltage-Gated Proton Channel-1 in Alpha-1 Deficient Individuals

Affiliations

Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Augmentation Inhibits Proteolysis of Neutrophil Membrane Voltage-Gated Proton Channel-1 in Alpha-1 Deficient Individuals

Padraig Hawkins et al. Medicina (Kaunas). .

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Alpha-1 antitrypsin is a serine protease inhibitor that demonstrates an array of immunomodulatory functions. Individuals with the genetic condition of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) are at increased risk of early onset emphysematous lung disease. This lung disease is partly driven by neutrophil mediated lung destruction in an environment of low AAT. As peripheral neutrophil hyper-responsiveness in AATD leads to excessive degranulation and increased migration to the airways, we examined the expression of the membrane voltage-gated proton channel-1 (HVCN1), which is integrally linked to neutrophil function. The objectives of this study were to evaluate altered HVCN1 in AATD neutrophils, serine protease-dependent degradation of HVCN1, and to investigate the ability of serum AAT to control HVCN1 expression. Materials and Methods: Circulating neutrophils were purified from AATD patients (n = 20), AATD patients receiving AAT augmentation therapy (n = 3) and healthy controls (n = 20). HVCN1 neutrophil expression was assessed by flow cytometry and Western blot analysis. Neutrophil membrane bound elastase was measured by fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Results: In this study we demonstrated that HVCN1 protein is under-expressed in AATD neutrophils (p = 0.02), suggesting a link between reduced HVCN1 expression and AAT deficiency. We have demonstrated that HVCN1 undergoes significant proteolytic degradation in activated neutrophils (p < 0.0001), primarily due to neutrophil elastase activity (p = 0.0004). In addition, the treatment of AATD individuals with AAT augmentation therapy increased neutrophil plasma membrane HVCN1 expression (p = 0.01). Conclusions: Our results demonstrate reduced levels of HVCN1 in peripheral blood neutrophils that may influence the neutrophil-dominated immune response in the AATD airways and highlights the role of antiprotease treatment and specifically AAT augmentation therapy in protecting neutrophil membrane expression of HVCN1.

Keywords: alpha-1 antitrypsin; elastase; neutrophils; voltage-gated proton channel-1.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Reduced voltage-gated hydrogen channel 1 (HVCN1) in neutrophils of individuals with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD). (a) Representative flow cytometry data histogram showing abundance of cell surface HVCN1 in healthy control (HC) (blue) and AATD (green) neutrophils compared to the isotype control (purple). (b) Neutrophil membrane levels of HVCN1 quantified by flow cytometry were expressed as mean fluorescence intensity (MFI). Graph illustrates a significantly lower abundance of HVCN1 in AATD neutrophils (n = 9 subjects per group, p = 0.04, Student’s t test). (c) Representative Western blot depicting HVCN1 expression in neutrophil whole cell lysates. β-actin was used as a loading control. (d) Graph depicting densitometry units (DU) for HVCN1 immunobands, showing significantly decreased protein level of HVCN1 in neutrophil whole cell lysates of individuals with AATD compared to HC (n = 7 subjects per group, p = 0.02, Student’s t test).
Figure 2
Figure 2
HVCN1 is reduced on activated neutrophil plasma membranes by serine proteases. (a) Time course of TNF-α/fMLP (10 ng/10 μM) neutrophil activation with HVCN1 membrane expression assessed by flow cytometry. Significantly increased abundance of HVCN1 at 10 min compared to 0 min (p = 0.001, n = 6, one-way ANOVA, post hoc Tukeys’ test). (b) TNF-α/fMLP activation of neutrophils for 30 min (Con) in the presence of nonspecific protease inhibitors EDTA, E64 or pefabloc (Pef). Pef treatment resulted in significantly increased abundance of HVCN1 (p < 0.0001, n = 3, one-way ANOVA, post hoc Dunnetts’ test). (c) Time course of neutrophil activation in the presence of Pef. Inclusion of Pef resulted in increased levels of HVCN1 (p < 0.0001, n = 6 technical repeats, one-way ANOVA, post hoc Tukeys’ test).
Figure 3
Figure 3
NE activity on AATD neutrophil membranes cleaves HVCN1. (a) Significantly increased NE activity on healthy control (HC) neutrophil plasma membranes after TNF-α (10 ng)/fMLP (10 μM) stimulation (n = 5 biological repeats, as measured by FRET assay (p = 0.01, one-way ANOVA, post hoc Bonferroni test)). (b) Activity of NE on unstimulated HC or AATD neutrophil plasma membranes. AATD neutrophils exhibit significantly increased activity of NE compared to HC (n = 3 subjects per group, p = 0.03, Student’s t test). (c) HC neutrophils (2 × 106) were untreated (Con) or exposed to NE (20 nM) over a 60 min time course. Exposure to NE significantly reduced membrane expression of HVCN1 after 60 min (p = 0.0004, n = 5, one-way ANOVA, post hoc Dunnetts’ test).
Figure 4
Figure 4
AAT augmentation therapy increases HVCN1 neutrophil plasma membrane expression. HVCN1 membrane expression of AATD neutrophils before (day 0) and 2 days after augmentation therapy (day 2) assessed by flow cytometry. HVCN1 expressing neutrophils were significantly higher on day 2 after therapy (p = 0.014, n = 3, Student’s paired t test).

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Stoller J.K., Aboussouan L.S. A review of α1-antitrypsin deficiency. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 2012;185:246–259. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201108-1428CI. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brantly M., Nukiwa T., Crystal R.G. Molecular basis of alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency. Am. J. Med. 1988;84:13–31. doi: 10.1016/S0002-9343(88)80066-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Perlino E., Cortese R., Ciliberto G. The human alpha 1-antitrypsin gene is transcribed from two different promoters in macrophages and hepatocytes. EMBO J. 1987;6:2767–2771. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02571.x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rotondo J.C., Oton-Gonzalez L., Selvatici R., Rizzo P., Pavasini R., Campo G.C., Lanzillotti C., Mazziotta C., De Mattei M., Tognon M., et al. SERPINA1 Gene Promoter Is Differentially Methylated in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells of Pregnant Women. Front. Cell Dev. Biol. 2020;8:550543. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2020.550543. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nyasae L.K., Hubbard A.L., Tuma P.L. Transcytotic efflux from early endosomes is dependent on cholesterol and glycosphingolipids in polarized hepatic cells. Mol. Biol. Cell. 2003;14:2689–2705. doi: 10.1091/mbc.e02-12-0816. - DOI - PMC - PubMed