Abstract
Background
Immunothrombosis is a physiological process based on the release of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) to immobilise, contain and kill bacteria. This is an innate immune response in which the local activation of blood coagulation exerts the critical protective function during microbial infection. In recent years, there has been much interest in the adult literature about the key role of immunothrombosis in pathologic states including thrombosis, cancer, sepsis and trauma. Currently, little research has been done into its role in paediatric conditions.
Methods
We conducted a literature search of the National Library of Medicine (MEDLINE/PubMed) from the years 2000 to May 2018 and qualitatively identified 24 relevant papers. References of articles included for full-text review were checked for relevant publications.
Results
Our aim is to summarise the most relevant evidences regarding an excessive production or defective removal of NETs in paediatric conditions. In particular, we have divided the role of immunothrombosis into acute (sepsis, necrotising enterocolitis, otitis media, neonatal arterial ischaemic stroke, haemolytic anaemic diseases) and chronic (systemic lupus erythematous, type 1 diabetes mellitus, respiratory diseases, graft-versus-host disease) conditions to find important similarities in their pathophysiology.
Conclusion
The field of immunothrombosis in paediatric conditions is still in its infancy. We have presented multiple pathways of NET-induced disease together with possible areas of future research and treatments.
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T.F., S.G.: substantial contribution to conception and design, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data. T.F., S.G., S.E., P.D.C.: drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content. T.F., S.G., S.E., P.D.C.: final approval of the version to be published
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Franchi, T., Eaton, S., De Coppi, P. et al. The emerging role of immunothrombosis in paediatric conditions. Pediatr Res 86, 19–27 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-019-0343-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-019-0343-6
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