Figure 7: Neutrophils treated with anti-DEK aptamer (DTA-64) have fewer NET structures and show retention of intracellular DEK.

(a) Peripheral blood human neutrophils were obtained from healthy donors and plated on glass coverslips. Control or anti-DEK aptamers (DTA-64) were added to neutrophil cultures 15 min prior to PMA stimulation (10 ng ml⁻¹). Neutrophils were incubated for 1 h at 37 °C, then fixed and stained for NETs with anti-MPO (green), DAPI for DNA (blue) and DEK (red) as shown in representative confocal images from experiments using 5 ng ml⁻¹ of control aptamer or DTA-64 (× 60 magnification, scale bar 20 μm). The inserts zoom in on the NETs marked by the arrows in the upper panel. (b) NET staining intensity based on MPO and DAPI was determined by Metamorph 7.7. Results shown represent the average from the neutrophils of five different healthy donors. The number of NETs/nucleus is markedly reduced (*P=0.00019) in neutrophils treated with anti-DEK aptamer as compared to control aptamer as determined by two-tailed, unequal variance Student’s t-test (error bars, s.e.m.).