Neutrophil Extracellular Traps and Interleukin 17 in Ankylosing Spondylitis

Charalampos Papagoras; Akrivi Chrysanthopoulou; Alexandros Mitsios; Victoria Tsironidou; Konstantinos Ritis

doi:10.31138/mjr.32.2.182

Neutrophil Extracellular Traps and Interleukin 17 in Ankylosing Spondylitis

Mediterr J Rheumatol. 2021 Jun 30;32(2):182-185. doi: 10.31138/mjr.32.2.182. eCollection 2021 Jun.

Authors

Charalampos Papagoras^{1

2}, Akrivi Chrysanthopoulou², Alexandros Mitsios², Victoria Tsironidou², Konstantinos Ritis^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ First Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece.
² Laboratory of Molecular Hematology, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece.

Abstract

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease traditionally regarded as mediated by T lymphocytes. Recent progress has identified that cells of innate immunity are also important for the processes of inflammation and new bone formation, a hallmark of AS. Moreover, interleukin-17 (IL-17) is a cytokine implicated in both processes. Neutrophils are increasingly recognized as mediators of autoinflammatory and autoimmune diseases through several mechanisms, one being the release of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). NETs are equipped with an array of bioactive molecules, such as IL-1β or IL-17. It appears that the molecules expressed over NETs vary across different disorders, reflecting diverse pathophysiologic mechanisms. As few studies have investigated the role of neutrophils in AS, the purpose of this research protocol is to study whether neutrophils from AS patients are more likely to form NETs, whether IL-17 and IL-1β are expressed over those NETs and if NETs affect new bone formation.

Keywords: Ankylosing spondylitis; interleukin 17; neutrophil extracellular traps.