A new purpose: Sox2 has more to offer in the immune system

Neutrophils are the largest human white blood cell population. As a primary effector of immune response against invading pathogens, neutrophil granulocytes migrate to the infectious site in the shortest possible time to identify and ingest pathogens. It has been well known that neutrophils are able to achieve that by expressing toll-like receptors (TLRs) in order to recognize bacteria elements. Surprisingly, a group of scientists determined that Sox2, a transcription factor known for its importance in maintaining self-renewal of stem cells, acts like TLRs and was used as a sensor for bacterial genome in neutrophils.

As published in Nature Immunology (2015, March issue), Sox2 is constitutively expressed in the cytoplasm of human and mouse neutrophils, but not in other lymphocytes such as T cells, B cells or dendritic cells. As Xia et al. further explored the function of this transcription factor in the immune system, they found that Sox2 dimerization was needed to activate inflammatory responses upon challenge with bacterial DNA that match the sequence recognition sites in Sox2 high-mobility-group (HMG) domain. In addition, Sox2-deficient mice died at a higher rate than the control littlemates when infected with Listeria monocytogenes. Mechanistically, the authors also revealed that Sox2 dimerization activates kinases such as TAK1 and TAB2, which further turns on NF-kB and AP-1 downstream signaling pathway in neutrophils. In conclusion, this report reveal a previously unrecognized roles for Sox2 as a DNA-sensor in neutrophils to combat pathogens and infectious diseases.

To isolate neutrophils from the blood cell populations, arigo offers Neutrophil Marker Antibody Duo (ARG30204) which is applicable for FACS and FACS-sorting experiments. NF-kB activation Antibody Panel (ARG30205) consisting phospho-IKK, IkB alpha, phospho-p38 and phospho-JNK antibodies for the accurate dissection of NF-kB activation pathway in these cells. Proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-alpha ELISA Kit (ARG80206), IL-6 ELISA Kit (ARG80199) and IL-1b ELISA Kit (ARG80196) allows us to investigate the effector responses of neutrophils.

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