A role for muscarinic receptors in neutrophil extracellular trap formation and levamisole-induced autoimmunity.

ABSTRACT: Levamisole, an anthelmintic drug with cholinergic properties, has been implicated in cases of drug-induced vasculitis when added to cocaine for profit purposes. Neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation is a cell death mechanism characterized by extrusion of chromatin decorated with granule proteins. Aberrant NET formation and degradation have been implicated in idiopathic autoimmune diseases that share features with levamisole-induced autoimmunity as well as in drug-induced autoimmunity. This study's objective was to determine how levamisole modulates neutrophil biology and its putative effects on the vasculature. Murine and human neutrophils exposed to levamisole demonstrated enhanced NET formation through engagement of muscarinic subtype 3 receptor. Levamisole-induced NETosis requir

SUBMITTER: Carmona-Rivera C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5291726 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature