Fluoreszenz-aktivierte Zellsortierung zur Reinigung von Plasmazytoide dendritischer Zellen aus dem Knochenmark der Maus

Efficient separation of a cell population of choice from other cells enables studies of the population that may not be possible otherwise. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) is a method to enrich an interesting cell population with high purity. ^1,2 Different cell types usually express unique molecules, or a unique combination of several molecules, on the plasma membrane that can distinguish one cell population from another. Upon binding of these cell surface molecules by specific fluorescence-conjugated antibodies, a detecting machine called flow cytometer/sorter is able to excite and detect the light signals of different fluorescent dyes that represent different molecule markers on the cells at the single cell level. The combined information consisting of either the presence of a light signal (representing positive expression of the corresponding surface molecule) or the absence of a light signal (representing negative expression of a molecule) defines the phenotype of the cell. After passing through the detector, cells with the same phenotype of interest are diverted towards a designated collecting tube based on electrical charge.

FACS is broadly applied in various studies as long as the population to be enriched is labeled with fluorescence.^3-7 It has been used to separate immunoglobulin (Ig)A-coated bacteria from non-IgA coated bacteria in the gut microbiota ⁸ and sort genetically engineered cell populations expressing fluorescent proteins. ⁹ Importantly, it has the capacity to separate more than one population simultaneously, which not only saves time and reagents but also allows for more sophisticated study designs. ¹⁰ However, FACS also has its limitations. If a population of interest is very rare (less than 1%), the sorting efficiency may be reduced, causing significant cell loss. In addition, some antibody binding may activate intracellular signal transduction that induces functional changes of the sorted cell population. ¹¹ Therefore, the phenotype used for sorting should be selected carefully.

Other methods exist besides FACS that are also based on cell surface markers for the enrichment of specific cell populations, such as magnetic-activated cell sorting (MCS). ¹² Similar to FACS, magnetic beads-conjugated antibodies can target specific cell surface molecules. Upon antibody-antigen interaction, magnetic beads-coated cells can be separated from non-coated cells after passing through a magnetic field. However, only a limited number of molecules can be targeted in MCS, as magnetic beads are, unlike various fluorescent colors in FACS, undistinguishable. It is thus difficult for MCS to define a cell phenotype with a complicated combination of surface markers. ^13,14 In addition, MCS is also able to cause unintended activation of target cells.

In our studies of a mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), ¹⁵ we intended to purify plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) to investigate their functional changes with disease progression. We first used MCS to enrich pDC from the bone marrow by targeting PDCA-1, a molecule highly and uniquely expressed on murine pDC at steady state. ¹⁶ However, the cell purity was unexpectedly low, likely due to the upregulation of PDCA-1 on other cell populations in an inflammatory environment such as SLE.¹⁶ Ultimately, we have used FACS with a combination of four surface markers (CD11c, CD11b, B220 and PDCA-1) to separate high-purity pDC as CD11c+CD11b-B220+PDCA-1+ population. Murine pDC has another specific surface marker Siglec-H. We decided not to use Siglec-H, as antibody binding of this molecule represses the function of pDC to produce IFNα. ¹¹