Key Publications
The papers that defined what we know about granulocytes, from Ehrlich 1879 to the current literature.
Brinkmann et al. first description of NETs: extracellular chromatin with granule proteins that traps and kills bacteria.
Borregaard review of neutrophil production, granule populations and their mobilization, and killing mechanisms.
Rothenberg and Hogan review of eosinophil development, IL-5 and eotaxin biology, granule proteins, and eosinophilic disease.
Voehringer review separating basophil and mast cell functions in host defense and allergy.
Pillay et al. deuterium labeling in healthy volunteers gave a circulating neutrophil lifespan of 5.4 days, far longer than older estimates.
Kolaczkowska and Kubes review of the recruitment cascade, effector functions, and resolution.
Hakkim et al. found a subset of SLE patients whose serum fails to degrade NETs, associated with lupus nephritis.
Martinod et al. PAD4-deficient mice form few NETs and are protected from deep vein thrombosis.
Pilsczek et al. describe rapid NET release in response to S. aureus by a route distinct from the slow lytic pathway.
Papayannopoulos et al. show elastase and MPO from azurophilic granules drive chromatin decondensation during NET formation.
Kay on how Ehrlich's aniline dye staining defined the neutrophil, eosinophil, and basophil.
Gordon on Metchnikoff's discovery of phagocytosis and its place in immunology.
van Grinsven et al. review why the neutrophil nucleus is lobed and what segmentation does for migration and function.
Hamdan et al. review cell line, animal, and stem cell derived models used to study neutrophils.
Veltri et al. map distinct eosinophil subsets by single-cell and spatial transcriptomics in a mouse asthma model.
Single-cell RNA-seq of eosinophils, basophils, and neutrophils in atopic airway disease; maps granulocyte heterogeneity beyond bulk transcriptomics.
Neonatal neutrophil functions mature at different rates; distinct stage-specific states shift from antimicrobial deficit to pro-resolution repair. Relevant to maturation sequence.
CPB differentially regulates elastase release and NET formation; dissociates two effector programs both dependent on azurophilic granule contents.
Neutrophil-lineage cells are generated in the marrow and participate in forming the pre-metastatic bone niche; reviews their trafficking and reprogramming.
Neutrophils phagocytose adenovirus and respond with a pro-inflammatory program; characterises a poorly understood neutrophil-virus interaction.
PMN-MDSCs identified by multi-omics; authors argue functional assays are still required because transcriptomic signatures do not reliably predict suppressive activity.
Heterophils, the avian equivalent of neutrophils, lack myeloperoxidase and use cathelicidins and defensins instead; comparative model for mammalian azurophilic granule biology.
NETs in tumor-draining lymph nodes suppress NK cell surveillance via the CCDC25 receptor; mouse orthotopic breast cancer model. Extends NET biology to metastatic niche formation.
Human ventricular biopsies show elevated NETosis in dilated cardiomyopathy; NETs co-localise with proinflammatory macrophages in myocardium. Neutrophil-macrophage crosstalk in cardiac failure.
LDNs from TB patients undergo ferroptosis and lose bactericidal capacity; iron-dependent cell death as a neutrophil immune evasion target in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.
Review: DNA methylation, histone modification, and ncRNA reprogramming alter neutrophil gene expression in sepsis; identifies candidate epigenetic biomarkers and therapeutic targets.