好中球細胞外トラップ（NETs）動態解析のためのフローサイトメトリーによるNOX2発現の評価

抄録

Neutrophils play a critical role in host defense by releasing web-like structures composed of DNA and proteins known as neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) to trap and eliminate pathogens. However, excessive or dysregulated NET production can lead to vascular endothelial injury, thrombosis, and autoimmune responses, contributing to tissue damage. Establishing a reliable and convenient biomarker to quantitatively assess NET dynamics is thus clinically important. We focused on NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX2), a key enzyme involved in NET formation, and developed a novel method to quantitatively evaluate NET dynamics by measuring NOX2 expression using flow cytometry. A strong positive correlation was observed between the NET formation ratio and mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of NOX2 expression (y = 2.308x + 0.412, r = 0.898), indicating that NOX2 expression quantitatively reflects NET formation. In a sepsis mouse model, the proportion of NOX2-positive neutrophils showed a similar trend to that of the NET formation ratio. These findings suggest that our flow cytometry-based method offers a simple and practical approach for monitoring NET dynamics and has potential clinical utility for diagnosis, disease assessment, and therapeutic monitoring of NET-associated disorders.