Fig. 4: Role of extracellular traps in cancer and metastasis.
Interactions between tumor cells and neutrophils determines the outcome of tumor growth, progression, and metastasis. Soluble factors and inflammatory mediators such as IL-8 and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), as well as microparticles released from tumor cells prime and activate neutrophils to form NETs. NETs-associated granule proteins can contribute to tumor metastasis by releasing proteases such as matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) and neutrophil elastase (NE) that allows tumor cells to move out of the primary niche and to migrate to other organs143,151,160.
