Proteomic Analysis of Neutrophil Priming by PAF

Polymorphonuclear neutrophils are the main cells of the innate immunity inflammatory response. Several factors can activate or stimulate neutrophils, including platelet-activating factor (PAF), a lipid mediator. Some authors consider the activation induced by PAF priming because it triggers limited production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and it amplifies the response of the cell to a subsequent activator. The stimulation is reversible, which is critical for modulating the inflammatory response. Exacerbated inflammatory responses lead to serious diseases, such as systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), among others. Characterizing the stimulation of neutrophils during the possible reversion or prevention of an exaggerated inflammatory response is critical for the development of control strategies. In this study, a proteomic approach was used to identify 36 proteins that differ in abundance between quiescent neutrophils and PAFstimulated neutrophils. The identified proteins were associated with increased DNA repair processes, calcium flux, protein transcription, cytoskeleton alterations that facilitate migration and degranulation, and the release of proinflammatory cytokines and proteins that modulate the inflammatory response. Some of the identified proteins have not been previously reported in neutrophils. Keywords: Inflammation, mass spectrometry, neutrophils, platelet-activating factor, proteomics, systemic inflammatory response.