Department of Pathology and Diagnostics, Section of General Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
Blood. 2014 Jul 31;124(5):710-9. doi: 10.1182/blood-2014-03-453217. Epub 2014 Jun 12.
It is now widely recognized that neutrophils are highly versatile and sophisticated cells that display de novo synthetic capacity and may greatly extend their lifespan. In addition, concepts such as "neutrophil heterogeneity" and "neutrophil plasticity" have started to emerge, implying that, under pathological conditions, neutrophils may differentiate into discrete subsets defined by distinct phenotypic and functional profiles. A number of studies have shown that neutrophils act as effectors in both innate and adaptive immunoregulatory networks. In fact, once recruited into inflamed tissues, neutrophils engage into complex bidirectional interactions with macrophages, natural killer, dendritic and mesenchymal stem cells, B and T lymphocytes, or platelets. As a result of this cross-talk, mediated either by contact-dependent mechanisms or cell-derived soluble factors, neutrophils and target cells reciprocally modulate their survival and activation status. Altogether, these novel aspects of neutrophil biology have shed new light not only on the potential complex roles that neutrophils play during inflammation and immune responses, but also in the pathogenesis of several inflammatory disorders including infection, autoimmunity, and cancer.
现在人们普遍认识到，中性粒细胞是高度多功能和复杂的细胞，具有从头合成能力，并可能大大延长其寿命。此外，“中性粒细胞异质性”和“中性粒细胞可塑性”等概念开始出现，这意味着在病理条件下，中性粒细胞可能分化为具有不同表型和功能特征的离散亚群。许多研究表明，中性粒细胞在先天和适应性免疫调节网络中充当效应物。事实上，一旦被招募到炎症组织中，中性粒细胞就会与巨噬细胞、自然杀伤细胞、树突状细胞和间充质干细胞、B 和 T 淋巴细胞或血小板发生复杂的双向相互作用。由于这种细胞间的对话，无论是通过接触依赖性机制还是细胞衍生的可溶性因子介导，中性粒细胞和靶细胞都会相互调节它们的存活和激活状态。总之，中性粒细胞生物学的这些新方面不仅揭示了中性粒细胞在炎症和免疫反应中可能发挥的复杂作用，而且还揭示了几种炎症性疾病（包括感染、自身免疫和癌症）的发病机制。
