TY - JOUR T1 - Neutrophil extracellular traps in bronchial aspirates: a quantitative analysis JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/09031936.00139813 SP - erj01398-2013 AU - Shigeto Hamaguchi AU - Tomoya Hirose AU - Naoya Matsumoto AU - Yukihiro Akeda AU - Taro Irisawa AU - Masafumi Seki AU - Hideo Hosotsubo AU - Kouji Yamamoto AU - Osamu Tasaki AU - Kazunori Oishi AU - Takeshi Shimazu AU - Kazunori Tomono Y1 - 2014/01/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2014/03/06/09031936.00139813.abstract N2 - Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are structures composed of DNA and granular proteins, which rapidly trap and kill pathogens. The formation of NETs has been detected during infection in animal experiments, but their role in humans is unclear. The purposes of this study were to quantitatively evaluate the production of NETs during acute respiratory infection and to study the relationship between the NET length and various inflammatory mediators. We examined bronchial aspirates collected from nine intubated patients in an intensive care unit. Samples were collected at the onset of acute respiratory infection (day 0) and on days 1, 3–5, and 6–8. The NET length was visualised by immunohistochemistry and quantified using computer tracing software. The NET length was measured and compared at each time point. The length differed significantly between time points (p<0.001). NETs were significantly longer on day 1 than on day 0 (p<0.001). Neutrophils released NETs abundantly in response to respiratory infection and regression analysis showed that NET length correlated with six clinical parameters (white blood cells, platelets, lactate, CXC ligand-2, interleukin-8, and procalcitonin) as the explanatory variables. NETs in bronchial aspirates may reflect disease progression of respiratory infections. Quantification of NETs in bronchial aspirates may provide a new indicator of inflammation. NET length increases with respiratory inflammation which correlates with progression of infections http://ow.ly/sPbEX ER -