Neutrophils: game changers in glomerulonephritis?

Glomerulonephritides represent a diverse array of diseases that have in common immune cell-mediated effector mechanisms that cause organ damage. The contribution of neutrophils to the pathogenesis of proliferative glomerulonephritis (GN) is not well recognized. Most equate neutrophils with killing pathogens and causing collateral tissue damage during acute inflammation. However, these phagocytes are endowed with additional characteristics that have been traditionally reserved for cells of the adaptive immune system. They communicate with other cells, exhibit plasticity in their responses and have the potential to coordinate and inform the subsequent immune response, thus countering the notion that they arrive, destroy and then disappear. Therefore, neutrophils, which are the first to arrive at a site of inflammation, are potential game changers in GN. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.