The role of CD47 in neutrophil transmigration. Increased rate of migration correlates with increased cell surface expression of CD47.

CD47, a cell surface glycoprotein, plays an important role in modulating neutrophil (PMN) migration across endothelial and epithelial monolayers. Here we show that anti-CD47 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) delay PMN migration across collagen-coated filters or T84 epithelial monolayers toward the chemoattractant formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine (fMLP). Despite delayed transmigration by anti-CD47 mAbs, the numbers of PMN migrating across in either condition were the same as in the presence of control non-inhibitory mAbs. Cell surface labeling and immunoprecipitation demonstrated upregulation of CD47 to the PMN cell surface with kinetics similar to those of the transmigration response. Subcellular fractionation studies revealed redistribution of CD47 from intracellular compartments that co-sediment with secondary granules to plasma membrane-containing fractions after fMLP stimulation. Experiments performed to investigate potential signaling pathways revealed that inhibition of tyrosine phosphorylation with genistein reversed the anti-CD47-mediated PMN migration delay, whereas inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase only partially reversed anti-CD47 effects that correlated with a rapid increase in PMN cell surface CD47. Analysis of the contribution of epithelial-expressed CD47 to PMN transmigration revealed that PMN migration across CD47-deficient epithelial monolayers (CaCO2) was significantly increased after stable transfection with CD47. These results suggest that cell surface CD47 and downstream tyrosine phosphorylation signaling events regulate, in part, the rate of PMN migration during the inflammatory response.