Effects of recombinant GM-CSF and IgA opsonisation on neutrophil phagocytosis of latex beads coated with P6 outer membrane protein from Haemophilus influenzae

Abstract

Background: IgA is the major antibody class in mucosal secretions, yet its biological functions remain poorly understood and its role as an opsonin for neutrophils has been the subject of controversy. It has been reported that treatment of neutrophils with granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) induces the cells to phagocytose particles opsonised with IgA. A study was performed to investigate the effects of GM-CSF and IgA opsonisation on the ability of human neutrophils to recognise and phagocytose latex beads coated with the P6 outer membrane protein of Haemophilus influenzae.

Methods: Human neutrophils with and without preincubation with 100 pmol/l GM-CSF, were incubated with non-opsonised P6-coated latex beads or beads opsonised with IgA purified from the blood of a bronchiectatic patient with high titres of IgA anti-P6. Phagocytosis was measured by counting internalised beads during microscopic examination.

Results: The phagocytosis of IgA opsonised beads by untreated neutrophils (mean (SE) 2.1 (0.43) beads/cell) was significantly greater than that of non-opsonised beads (mean (SE) 1.3 (0.30) beads/cell). Treatment of neutrophils with GM-CSF resulted in increased phagocytosis of non-opsonised beads (mean (SE) 2.1 (0.39) beads/cell) but opsonisation with IgA increased this further (mean (SE) 3.4 (0.53) beads/cell).

Conclusions: Human neutrophils recognise and phagocytose non-opsonised particles coated with bacterial antigen. Antibodies of the IgA isotype opsonise for neutrophil phagocytosis of particles coated with bacterial antigen but this behaviour is enhanced, in an additive fashion, by treatment of the cells with GM-CSF. The results suggest that IgA and GM-CSF are important cofactors for neutrophil recognition and elimination of bacterial pathogens.