Figure 1.

Different mechanisms used by some Leishmania spp. to escape neutrophil killing. Leishmania can impair parasite destruction by neutrophils (A) by affecting the formation of mature phagolysosomes and their fusion with neutrophil granules, (B) by localization in non-lytic compartments, and (C) by resisting to the toxicity associated with reactive oxygen species production. Some Leishmania spp. can also resist to the microbicity associated with neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation (D) by directly inhibiting NET formation, or by digestion of the NET scaffold using pathogen-or vector-derived endonucleases (E). They can also resist NET antimicrobial factors through the expression of protease-resistant surface molecules. (F) A subset of L. mexicana amastigotes was shown to replicate in neutrophils.