Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Transl Med. Dec 12, 2015; 4(3): 60-68
Published online Dec 12, 2015. doi: 10.5528/wjtm.v4.i3.60
Contributions of neutrophils to the adaptive immune response in autoimmune disease
Kathryn M Pietrosimone, Peng Liu
Kathryn M Pietrosimone, Thurston Arthritis Research Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States
Peng Liu, Department of Medicine and Thurston Arthritis Research Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States
Author contributions: Both authors contributed to this paper.
Supported by The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIAMS-NIH), No. 1R01AR063132.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Peng Liu, MD, PhD, Department of Medicine and Thurston Arthritis Research Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 3300 Thurston Building, CB#7280, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States. liupz@med.unc.edu
Telephone: +1-919-9660570 Fax: +1-919-9669269
Received: June 29, 2015
Peer-review started: July 4, 2015
First decision: September 17, 2015
Revised: October 3, 2015
Accepted: November 23, 2015
Article in press: November 25, 2015
Published online: December 12, 2015
Abstract

Neutrophils are granulocytic cytotoxic leukocytes of the innate immune system that activate during acute inflammation. Neutrophils can also persist beyond the acute phase of inflammation to impact the adaptive immune response during chronic inflammation. In the context of the autoimmune disease, neutrophils modulating T and B cell functions by producing cytokines and chemokines, forming neutrophil extracellular traps, and acting as or priming antigen presentation cells. Thus, neutrophils are actively involved in chronic inflammation and tissue damage in autoimmune disease. Using rheumatoid arthritis as an example, this review focuses on functions of neutrophils in adaptive immunity and the therapeutic potential of these cells in the treatment of autoimmune disease and chronic inflammation.

Keywords: Neutrophils, Chronic inflammation, Autoimmune disease, Rheumatoid arthritis, Collagen-induced arthritis

Core tip: Neutrophils guide the adaptive immune response in persistent inflammation by directly and indirectly interacting with T and B cells. Understanding and manipulating these roles of neutrophils will lead to novel therapeutic approaches to prevent and treat autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.