S100A9 mediates neutrophil adhesion to fibronectin through activation of β2 integrins

Neutrophil migration from the blood to inflammatory sites follows a cascade of events, in which adhesion to endothelial cells and extracellular matrix proteins is essential. S100A8, S100A9, and S100A12 are small abundant proteins found in human neutrophil cytosol and presumed to be involved in leukocyte migration. Here we investigated the S100 proteins’ activities in neutrophil tissue migration by evaluating their effects on neutrophil adhesion to certain extracellular matrix proteins. S100A9 induced adhesion only to fibronectin and was the only S100 protein that stimulated neutrophil adhesion to this extracellular matrix protein. Experiments with blocking antibodies revealed that neither β1 nor β3 integrins were strongly involved in neutrophil adhesion to fibronectin, contrary to what the literature predicted. In contrast, neutrophil adhesion to fibronectin was completely inhibited by anti-β2 integrins, suggesting that S100A9-induced specific activation of β2 integrin is essential to neutrophil adhesion.