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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Inflammation
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1458035
This article is part of the Research Topic Community Series in Intravital Microscopy Imaging of Leukocytes: Volume II View all 3 articles

Neutrophils under the microscope: neutrophil dynamics in infection, inflammation, and cancer revealed using intravital imaging

Provisionally accepted
Andrew O. Yam Andrew O. Yam 1,2,3Arnolda Jakovija Arnolda Jakovija 1Catherine Gatt Catherine Gatt 1Tatyana Chtanova Tatyana Chtanova 1,2*
  • 1 University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia
  • 2 Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia
  • 3 The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Neutrophils rapidly respond to inflammation resulting from infection, injury, and cancer. Intravital microscopy (IVM) has significantly advanced our understanding of neutrophil behavior, enabling real-time visualization of their migration, interactions with pathogens, and coordination of immune responses. This review delves into the insights provided by IVM studies on neutrophil dynamics in various inflammatory contexts. We also examine the dual role of neutrophils in tumor microenvironments, where they can either facilitate or hinder cancer progression. Finally, we highlight how computational modeling techniques, especially agent-based modeling, complement experimental data by elucidating neutrophil kinetics at the level of individual cells as well as their collective behavior. Understanding the role of neutrophils in health and disease is essential for developing new strategies for combating infection, inflammation and cancer.

    Keywords: Neutrophil, Intravital 2-photon microscopy, imaging, Migration, Infection, Wound Healing, Cancer

    Received: 01 Jul 2024; Accepted: 13 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Yam, Jakovija, Gatt and Chtanova. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Tatyana Chtanova, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, 2010, New South Wales, Australia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.