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. 2017 Nov 1;10(11):11063-11068.
eCollection 2017.

Dynamic changes in trauma-induced myeloid-derived suppressor cells after polytrauma are associated with an increased susceptibility to infection

Liang Cheng  1 , Jia Xu  1 , Yimin Chai  1   2 , Chunyang Wang  1 , Pei Han  1
Affiliations

Dynamic changes in trauma-induced myeloid-derived suppressor cells after polytrauma are associated with an increased susceptibility to infection

Liang Cheng et al. Int J Clin Exp Pathol. .

Abstract

Background: There is a strong association between severity of injury and an increased susceptibility to infection after injury. T cell dysfunctions are central to the development of infections following a trauma. Trauma-induced myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) can suppress T cell functions, and the process is associated with poor clinical outcome. In this study, we compared the dynamic changes in trauma-induced MDSCs in two trauma animal models.

Methods: Rats were divided into three groups as follows: the control group, the femur fracture (FFx) group, and the polytrauma (PT) group. Animals were sacrificed at 2, 6, 12, 18, or 24 h postoperatively, and spleen was harvested for study. The MDSCs were identified by a flow cytometry and calculated. Incorporation of [3H]thymidine was used to measure T cell proliferation. The results showed that the number of MDSCs in the spleen reached a peak 2 h after the trauma in both the groups. The peak number of MDSCs in the PT group was about four times greater (P<0.001); and in the FFx group, about one and a half times more (P=0.003) than in the control group. The increased level of MDSCs returned to normal after 18 h in the PT group, and after 6 h in the FFx group, post-surgery. Incorporation of [3H]thymidine showed that MDSCs induced by trauma suppressed T cell proliferation.

Conclusion: These results suggest that polytrauma stress represent a more extensive MDSCs expansion which may contribute to an increased susceptibility to infection.

Keywords: Polytrauma; injury severity; myeloid-derived suppressor cells.

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Representative kinetic changes in MDSCs in rats expressed as percentage of MDSCs in spleen of the polytrauma (PT) and femur fracture (FFx) groups at different time points postoperatively. Control group: level of MDSCs (2.9%) was found to be very low. PT group: at time intervals of 2, 6, and 12 h, the percentage of MDSCs increased to 15.8%, 9.5%, and 5.7%, respectively, and returned to the baseline after 18 h. FFx group: there was a transient increase of MDSCs (up to 5.2%) at a time interval of 2 h, and quickly returned to the baseline by 6 h.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Average percentage of MDSCs measured in rats in the control, polytrauma (PT), and femur fracture (FFx) groups. Asterisk indicates significantly different vs. control (P<0.05); pound sign indicates significantly different PT vs. FFx (P<0.05).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Myeloid-derived suppressor cells induced by polytrauma suppress T cell proliferation. T cells co-cultured in the presence of CD11bc+/His48+ cells induced by polytrauma exhibited a significant decrease in proliferation as measured by [3H]thymidine incorporation. The most significant suppressive effect of CD11bc+/His48+ cells induced by polytrauma on T cell proliferation was observed at an effector: target (E:T) ratio of 1:16 (P<0.05).
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