Characterizing the Complexities of Neutrophils with Suppressive Properties.

Several not-yet fully described neutrophil populations exerting either antitumor or suppressive/protumor functions may appear in the circulation of patients with cancer and/or infiltrate tumor tissues. In this issue, Emmons and colleagues provide new information on how complement-dependent "activation" of normal mature neutrophils renders the cells able to inhibit T-cell responsiveness in vitro The data highlight the complexities of understanding the biology of neutrophil-mediated T-cell suppression.See related article by Emmons et al., p. 790.