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Review
. 2015 May 20;5(2):64-76.
doi: 10.5493/wjem.v5.i2.64.

Spotlights on immunological effects of reactive nitrogen species: When inflammation says nitric oxide

Andrea Predonzani  1 , Bianca Calì  1 , Andrielly Hr Agnellini  1 , Barbara Molon  1
Affiliations
Review

Spotlights on immunological effects of reactive nitrogen species: When inflammation says nitric oxide

Andrea Predonzani et al. World J Exp Med. .

Abstract

Over the last decades, nitric oxide (NO) has been definitively recognised as one of the key players involved in immunity and inflammation. NO generation was originally described in activated macrophages, which still represent the prototype of NO-producing cells. Notwithstanding, additional cell subsets belonging to both innate and adaptive immunity have been documented to sustain NO propagation by means of the enzymatic activity of different nitric oxide synthase isoforms. Furthermore, due to its chemical characteristics, NO could rapidly react with other free radicals to generate different reactive nitrogen species (RNS), which have been intriguingly associated with many pathological conditions. Nonetheless, the plethora of NO/RNS-mediated effects still remains extremely puzzling. The aim of this manuscript is to dig into the broad literature on the topic to provide intriguing insights on NO-mediated circuits within immune system. We analysed NO and RNS immunological clues arising from their biochemical properties, immunomodulatory activities and finally dealing with their impact on different pathological scenarios with far prompting intriguing perspectives for their pharmacological targeting.

Keywords: Immune cells; Immune diseases; Nitric oxide; Post-translational modification; Reactive nitrogen species.

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Figures

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Figure 1
Figure 1
Distinctive effects of nitric oxide in immune cell subsets. Nitric oxide (NO) represents one of the key players involved in immunity and inflammation. The figure depicts the distinctive effects of NO within immune system, recapitulating its controversial behaviour. Low levels (left) could either favour Th1 response or immunoregulatory environment, while high levels (right) are either necessary for M1 macrophage effector function or could impair T cell activation. This opposite behaviour is more evident where NO concentration is poorly defined (middle), where NO sources and effects are more debated. Question marks tag open issues in the field. → or ┤ point out the effects of NO directly produced by the indicated cell on different targets. ← or ├ point out the effects of NO originated by different (not specifically indicated) sources on different targets. TAM: Tumour-associated macrophage; MDSCs: Myeloid-derived suppressor cells; IL: Interleukin; DC: Dendritic cell; NK: Natural killer cell.
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