Neutrophil Extracellular Traps

            Inflammation is one of the crucial processes of innate immunity that alerts the immune system and recruits the needed cells, clears the damaged area, and then sets the stage for subsequent tissue repair or regeneration. Despite the importance of inflammation to immunity and the role of chronic inflammation in many common pathologies, we have only begun to gain a basic understanding of the major events that initiate, regulate, and inhibit the process. Although we have known that neutrophils are among the first cells to arrive on the scene of an inflammatory response, we have only recently begun to understand the important role that these cells play in the process. It was discovered in the mid-2000s that neutrophils form structures dubbed neutrophil extracellular traps, or NETs, when activated in an inflammatory response. Briefly, what are NETs, what is in them, and what purpose do they serve in inflammation and immunity? What are a few of the major pathologies that NETs have been implicated in?