Aberrant integrin (CR4; αxβ2; CD11c/CD18) oscillations on neutrophils in a mild form of pyoderma gangrenosum

We have previously shown that the beta(2) integrinas CR3 and CR4 physically and functionally interact with urokinase receptors (uPAR) on neutrophil plasma membranes in an oscillatory fashion. Ln this study we have analyzed neutrophils from patient SC, a 34 y old African American female, with aberrant skin window results and recurrent perianal abscesses and pretibial lesions diagnosed as pyoderma gangrenosum. Although untreated migrating normal neutrophils exhibited 20 s sinusoidal oscillations in CR4-uPAR proximity, neutrophils from SC demonstrated a faster oscillation (10 s) in the form of a flyback sawtooth wave. This waveform mimicked that observed for normal neutrophils treated with subsaturating doses of the kinase inhibitors staurosporine, genistein, and erbstatin. As beta(2) integrins are regulated by phosphorylation, we tested the hypothesis that the aberrant CR4-uPAR proximity oscillations seen in SC's neutrophils are due to defective kinase activity that might be balanced by a decrease in phosphatase activity. When SC's cells are exposed to subsaturating concentrations of the phosphatase inhibitor pervanadate, this caused the CR4-uPAR oscillations to become sinusoidal in shape with a 20 s period, as seen in normal migrating neutrophils. Although SC's neutrophils were deficient in spontaneous and N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine-induced polarization, 0.5 mu M pervanadate returned cell polarization to nearly normal levels, thus paralleling the acquisition of normal receptor interactions. Inasmuch as SC's cellular phenotype is mimicked by kinase inhibitors and corrected by phosphatase inhibitors, we suggest that a mutation(s) affecting the kinetics of intracellular signaling enzymes, but not blocking the pathway per se, may be responsible for this clinical state.