Role of extracellular trap release by macrophages during the development of chronic inflammation.

Background and Aims: Neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) release in response to inflammatory stimuli is increasingly implicated in many chronic disease settings, including driving lesion development and thrombosis in atherosclerosis. Macrophages also release extracellular traps or “METs”, but the pathways responsible for triggering MET release in vivo, and the role of these structures in pathological processes are poorly defined, though these cells are dominant in lesions. In this study, we examined MET release from human macrophages using different inflammatory stimuli.