Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Gastrointestinal cancer

Neutrophils and cancer: guilt by association

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 13, pages 381–382 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

A new study reports that activation of neutrophils leads to the release of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and coagulation, which then promote development of a tumorigenic microenvironment in the small intestine. These findings provide novel insights into the role of neutrophils in cancer and suggest enticing directions for future research.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Potential interactions between neutrophils and coagulation in the context of small intestinal tumorigenesis.

References

  1. Kolaczkowska, E. & Kubes, P. Neutrophil recruitment and function in health and inflammation. Nat. Rev. Immunol. 13, 159–175 (2013).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Brinkmann, V. et al. Neutrophil extracellular traps kill bacteria. Science 303, 1532–1535 (2004).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Guglietta, S. et al. Coagulation induced by C3aR-dependent NETosis drives protumorigenic neutrophils during small intestinal tumorigenesis. Nat. Commun. 7, 11037 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Levi, M. Management of cancer-associated disseminated intravascular coagulation. Thromb. Res. 140, S66–S70 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Sionov, R. V., Fridlender, Z. G. & Granot, Z. The multifaceted roles neutrophils play in the tumor microenvironment. Cancer Microenviron. 8, 125–158 (2015).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Christoffersson, G. et al. VEGF-A recruits a proangiogenic MMP-9-delivering neutrophil subset that induces angiogenesis in transplanted hypoxic tissue. Blood 120, 4653–4662 (2012).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Massberg, S. et al. Reciprocal coupling of coagulation and innate immunity via neutrophil serine proteases. Nat. Med. 16, 887–896 (2010).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Demers, M. & Wagner, D. D. NETosis: a new factor in tumor progression and cancer-associated thrombosis. Semin. Thromb. Hemost. 40, 277–283 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Breitbach, C. J. et al. Targeting tumor vasculature with an oncolytic virus. Mol. Ther. 19, 886–894 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Yadav, L., Puri, N., Rastogi, V., Satpute, P. & Sharma, V. Tumour angiogenesis and angiogenic inhibitors: a review. J. Clin. Diagn. Res. 9, XE01–XE05 (2015).

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, University of Calgary, HRIC 3280 Hospital Drive N.W., Calgary, T2N 4N1, Alberta, Canada

    Paul Kubes

  2. Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, University of Calgary, HRIC 3280 Hospital Drive N.W., Calgary, T2N 4N1, Alberta, Canada

    Craig N. Jenne

Authors
  1. Craig N. Jenne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Paul Kubes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul Kubes.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jenne, C., Kubes, P. Neutrophils and cancer: guilt by association. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 13, 381–382 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2016.90

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2016.90

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Cancer

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Cancer newsletter — what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Cancer