Antimicrobial activity of HL-60 cells compared to primary blood-derived neutrophils against Staphylococcus aureus

BACKGROUND: The human leukemia cell line HL-60 is considered an alternative cell culture model to study neutrophil differentiation and migration. The aim of this study was to characterize the suitability of HL-60 cells differentiated to neutrophil-like cells (nHL-60) as substitute for blood-derived human neutrophils to investigate the interaction of neutrophils with Staphylococcus aureus. METHODS: For this purpose, antimicrobial activity, bacterial uptake, production of reactive oxygen species and the release of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) by nHL-60 cells were analyzed and compared to primary blood-derived neutrophils using Staphylococcus aureus as important human and animal pathogen. RESULTS: Overall, the antimicrobial activities of nHL-60 cells were distinctly lower compared to blood-derived neutrophils. Furthermore, production of reactive oxygen species as well as NET formation was clearly impaired in nHL-60 cells. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that HL-60 cells are of limited usage as an alternative model to study antimicrobial functions of neutrophils against Staphylococcus aureus. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12952-017-0067-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.