Respiratory Treatment and Prevention (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology)

Advs Exp. Medicine, Biology - Neuroscience and Respiration (2016) 27: 47–52
DOI 10.1007/5584_2016_59
#Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017
Published online: 29 July 2016

Antibiotics Modulate the Ability

of Neutrophils to Release Neutrophil

Extracellular Traps

A. Manda-Handzlik, W. Bystrzycka, S. Sieczkowska,

U. Demkow, and O. Ciepiela

Abstract

Antibiotics directly inhibit the growth and kill microorganisms, and many

of them have immunomodulatory properties. We investigated the influ-

ence of cefotaxime and gentamicin on the release of neutrophil extracel-

lular traps (NETs) – recently described strategy employed by neutrophils

to fight infections. We found that gentamicin inhibits NETs release by

human neutrophils, while cefotaxime did not have any impact on this

process. The information that antibiotics can modulate NETs release, can

be useful in the therapy of infectious diseases in patients suffering from

NET-related diseases.

Keywords

Cefotaxime • Gentamicin • Granulocytes • Phagocytosis • NETs

1 Introduction

Antibiotics are widely used for prevention and

treatment of bacterial infections. Their antimi-

crobial effect is not limited to inhibiting the

growth and killing microorganisms – they can

exert a number of effects on the immune system

function. Antibiotics can modulate the patterns

of cytokine release (Ziegeler et al. 2006 ), aug-

ment the antigen recognition system (Tentori

et al. 1998 ), and suppress delayed-type hypersen-

sitivity reaction (Roszkowski et al. 1985 ). More-

over, there is a wide range of interactions

between antibiotics and phagocytic cells.

Antibiotics inhibit chemotaxis, oxidant produc-

tion, and affect phagocytic functions (Minic

A. Manda-Handzlik (*)
Department of Laboratory Diagnostics and Clinical
Immunology of Developmental Age, Warsaw Medical
University, 63A Zwirki i Wigury Street, 02-091 Warsaw,
Poland

Postgraduate School of Molecular Medicine, Warsaw
Medical University, 63A Zwirki i Wigury Street,
02-091 Warsaw, Poland
e-mail:[email protected]

W. Bystrzycka and S. Sieczkowska
Student Scientific Group at the Department of Laboratory
Diagnostics and Clinical Immunology of Developmental
Age, Warsaw Medical University, 63A Zwirki i Wigury
Street, 02-091 Warsaw, Poland

U. Demkow and O. Ciepiela
Department of Laboratory Diagnostics and Clinical
Immunology of Developmental Age, Warsaw Medical
University, 63A Zwirki i Wigury Street, 02-091 Warsaw,
Poland

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