Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) in Immunity and Diseases, 3rd Edition
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Immunology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2025 | Viewed by 1657
Special Issue Editor
Interests: neutrophils; neutrophil extracellular traps; pediatric diseases; pediatric cancers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue is a continuation of our previous Special Issue “Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) in Immunity and Diseases: 2nd Edition” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijms/special_issues/2I8LVEULI6).
Currently, research in this area has mainly focused on adaptive immune responses and the broad applications of NETs. Human death rates are highly influenced by diseases such as sepsis, multiresistant microbes, autoimmune disorders, and cancer, in which innate immunity plays a leading role. Therefore, greater attention should be paid to the innate immune response, and especially to neutrophils, which play an invaluable role in the host’s immune defense. Cytokines and other stimuli direct these cells into infected tissues, where they eliminate invading microbes. Notably, a successful neutrophil defense is often associated with inflammatory tissue damage and diseases including allergies, autoimmune diseases, atherosclerosis, thrombus formation, and metabolic disorders. These have been linked to the capability of activated neutrophils to release decondensed chromatin decorated with granular proteins known as neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). NETs act as a scaffold for the aggregation of viable, necrotic, and apoptotic cells, as well as crystals and microbes. Importantly, under specific conditions, NETs act through either an inflammatory or anti-inflammatory process.
Although significant efforts have been made to study the release of NETs, we still need to broaden our knowledge of this unique feature of the innate immune response. Showing the contribution of NETs to various pathological conditions and the metastasis of cancer and gaining a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind the release of NETs, as well as their role in the immune response and diseases, is of great importance. Additionally, the degradation of NETs and their clearance is only partially understood and warrants further research.
The focus of this Special Issue is on updating the current research on NETs in immunity and disease, improving our understanding of this phenomenon, and developing new therapeutic strategies for various pathological conditions related to the excessive release of NETs and/or their incomplete degradation. Both review and original articles covering basic, translational, or clinical molecular-data-supported research are welcome.
Dr. Jasmin Knopf
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- neutrophils
- neutrophil functions
- neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs)
- NET biology
- NETs in autoimmune diseases
- NETs in immune response
- NETs in the development and progression of cancer diseases
- NETs in immunothrombosis
- degradation of NETs
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