Use of Flow Cytometry to Evaluate Phagocytosis of Staphylococcus aureus by Human Neutrophils

Elena Boero, Iris Brinkman, Thessely Juliet, Eline van Yperen, Jos A.G. van Strijp, Suzan H.M. Rooijakkers, Kok P.M. van Kessel*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
14 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Neutrophils play a key role in the human immune response to Staphylococcus aureus infections. These professional phagocytes rapidly migrate to the site of infection to engulf bacteria and destroy them via specialized intracellular killing mechanisms. Here we describe a robust and relatively high-throughput flow cytometry assay to quantify phagocytosis of S. aureus by human neutrophils. We show that effective phagocytic uptake of S. aureus is greatly enhanced by opsonization, i.e. the tagging of microbial surfaces with plasma-derived host proteins like antibodies and complement. Our rapid assay to monitor phagocytosis can be used to study neutrophil deficiencies and bacterial evasion, but also provides a powerful tool to assess the opsonic capacity of antibodies, either in the context of natural immune responses or immune therapies.

Original languageEnglish
Article number635825
Pages (from-to)1-15
JournalFrontiers in Immunology
Volume12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Feb 2021

Keywords

  • flow cytometry
  • human
  • neutrophils
  • phagocytosis
  • Staphylococcus aureus
  • Complement Activation
  • Humans
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Staphylococcus aureus/immunology
  • Complement System Proteins/immunology
  • Antibodies, Bacterial/immunology
  • Neutrophils/immunology
  • Flow Cytometry
  • High-Throughput Screening Assays
  • Immune Evasion
  • Time Factors
  • Bacteriological Techniques
  • Opsonin Proteins/immunology
  • Staphylococcal Infections/immunology
  • Phagocytosis

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