Fig. 2.

The diverse effects of NETs. NET granules contain fragments that promote dormant cancer cell awakening and change their phenotype to a metastatic one (I); NETs also contain suppressor molecules (PD-L1), which interact with cytotoxic cells and suppress their activity (II); DNA filaments, the key component of NETs, ensnare tumor cells, thus acting as a steric hindrance to the interaction with cytotoxic cells (III); the awakened cancer cells leave the microenvironment and enter blood vessels; these circulating cells are entrapped in distal tissues via NETs, which promotes metastasizing (IV). Abbreviations: dCHR – decondensed chromatin; NETs – neutrophil extracellular traps; GR – granule; PD-L1 – programmed death ligand 1; PD-1 – PD-L1 receptor; CTL – cytotoxic T lymphocyte; CTC – circulating tumor cell; NAN – neutrophil after NETosis