Abstract

Neutrophils are one of the main types of effector cell in the innate immune system and were first shown to effectively kill microorganisms by phagocytosis more than 100 years ago. Recently, however, it has been found that stimulated neutrophils can also produce extracellular structures called neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) that capture and kill microorganisms. This Progress article gives an overview of the structure, function and generation of NETs, and their role in infections.

Author affiliations

1. Volker Brinkmann is at the Microscopy Core Facility, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Charitéplatz 1, Berlin 10117, Germany.
2. Arturo Zychlinsky is at the Department of Cellular Microbiology, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Charitéplatz 1, Berlin 10117, Germany.

Correspondence to: Volker Brinkmann¹ Email: brinkmann@mpiib-berlin.mpg.de

Correspondence to: Arturo Zychlinsky² Email: zychlinsky@mpiib-berlin.mpg.de

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