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The Diverse Biological Functions of Neutrophils, Beyond the Defense Against Infections

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Abstract

Polymorphonuclear neutrophils are among the first defense against infection and closely involved in the initiation of inflammatory response. It is well recognized that this function of neutrophils was mainly mediated by phagocytosis, intracellular degradation, releasing of granules, and formation of neutrophil extracellular traps after sensing dangerous stress. However, accumulating data showed that neutrophils had a variety of important biological functions in both innate and adaptive immunities, far beyond cytotoxicity against pathogens. Neutrophils can differentially switch phenotypes and display distinct subpopulations under different microenvironments. Neutrophils can produce a large variety of cytokines and chemokines upon stimulation. Furthermore, neutrophils directly interact with dendritic cells (DCs), macrophages, natural killer cells, T cells, and B cells so as to either potentiate or down-modulate both innate and adaptive immunity. In the present review, we summarize the recent progress on the functional plasticity and the regulatory ability on immunity of neutrophils in physiological and pathological situations.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Drs. Yuzhu Hou and Tingting Wu for their kind review of the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the National Basic Research Program of China (2014ZX10002002-001-002, J.L., Y.Z.; 2011CB710903, Y.Z.), the National Natural Science Foundation of China for General and Key Programs (81130055, C81072396, 31470860, 81530049, Y.Z.), Knowledge Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA04020202-19, Y.Z.), the CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams (Y.Z.), “215” high-level health technology project (2011-J.L.) and National Science and Technology Major Project “Prevention and Treatment of AIDS and Virus Hepatitis” (2014ZX10002002-001-002, J.L.)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Transplantation Biology Research Division, State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beichen West Road 1-5, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China

    Fan Yang, Chang Feng & Yong Zhao

  2. Department of Urology, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

    Xiaodong Zhang

  3. Hepatology and Cancer Biotherapy Ward, Beijing YouAn Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China

    Jun Lu

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  1. Fan Yang
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  2. Chang Feng
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  3. Xiaodong Zhang
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  4. Jun Lu
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Correspondence to Jun Lu or Yong Zhao.

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Yang, F., Feng, C., Zhang, X. et al. The Diverse Biological Functions of Neutrophils, Beyond the Defense Against Infections. Inflammation 40, 311–323 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-016-0458-4

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