New findings from a research group at Uppsala University show that the neutrophil, a type of blood cell, plays an important role in how cancer results in organ failure.
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From Medical Express
Neutrophil extracellular traps may play role in organ failure in cancer
the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:
Neutrophils may play an important role in organ failure in patients with primary or metastatic tumors, according to research out of Uppsala University published in Cancer Research.
While the main function of neutrophil blood cells is to protect against infections, the presence of tumors in the body may fool immune cells into fighting non-existent infections through the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs).
In their mouse study, the researchers demonstrated that NETs that gathered in mice with cancer caused decreased functionality of blood vessels as well as inflammation of organs that were not affected by actual or metastatic tumor cells.
DNase treatment was used to restore vascular function in the kidneys and hearts of afflicted mice to those of non-tumor-carrying mice. In addition, it also suppressed inflammation.
“Our findings strongly suggest that NETs mediate the negative collateral effects of tumors on distal organs, but that this condition is reversible,” said Anna-Karin Olsson, senior lecturer at Uppsala University.
