Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Department of Biosystems Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2019 Jun;1445(1):52-61. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14029. Epub 2019 Mar 19.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common lung disease characterized by narrowed airways, resulting in serious breathing difficulty. Previous studies have demonstrated that inflammatory infiltration of leukocytes in the airway is associated with the pathogenesis of COPD. In the present study, we employed a microfluidic approach to assess the effect of COPD sputum on activated human peripheral blood T cell migration and chemotaxis under well-controlled gradient conditions. Our results showed considerable basal migration of T cells derived from peripheral blood of COPD patients and healthy controls in the medium control groups. By contrast, the migration of T cells from COPD patients and healthy controls was significantly inhibited in the presence of a gradient of sputum supernatant from COPD patients. Furthermore, chemotaxis of T cells from COPD patients or healthy subjects toward an SDF-1α gradient was clearly inhibited by sputum samples from the COPD patients. The inhibition effect revealed by the microfluidic cell migration experiments provides new information about the complex involvement of T cell trafficking in COPD.
慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）是一种常见的肺部疾病，其特征为气道变窄，导致严重的呼吸困难。先前的研究表明，气道中白细胞的炎症浸润与 COPD 的发病机制有关。在本研究中，我们采用微流控方法在严格控制的梯度条件下评估 COPD 痰液对激活的人外周血 T 细胞迁移和趋化性的影响。我们的结果表明，COPD 患者和健康对照者外周血 T 细胞在培养基对照组中有相当大的基础迁移。相比之下，在 COPD 患者痰液上清液梯度存在的情况下，COPD 患者和健康对照者的 T 细胞迁移明显受到抑制。此外，COPD 患者的痰液明显抑制了 T 细胞向 SDF-1α 梯度的趋化性。微流控细胞迁移实验的抑制作用提供了有关 T 细胞在 COPD 中复杂迁移的新信息。
