Work carried out by NIHR SRMRC Research Fellow Jon Hazeldine and colleagues at the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, at the University of Birmingham, looked at blood samples from 62 adult trauma patients within 1 hour “The Golden Hour” of acute trauma.
Tissue damage caused by trauma induces the release of mitochondrial-derived damage-associated molecular patterns (mtDAMPs). These proteins, when exposed to neutrophils (bacteria-killing, white blood cells) cause them to become dysregulated. This work demonstrated that many of the neutrophil functions are significantly affected by traumatic injury; resulting in a reduction in many of the processes that allow them to defend the body against bacterial pathogens showing that trauma results in the immediate impairment of the immune system against bacteria.
For those wishing to read the paper in full, please follow the link provided below:
Hazeldine J, Dinsdale RJ, Harrison P, Lord JM. Traumatic Injury and Exposure to Mitochondrial-Derived Damage Associated Molecular Patterns Suppresses Neutrophil Extracellular Trap Formation. Front Immunol. 2019;10:685. Published 2019 Apr 2. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2019.00685
