Neutrophil extracellular traps in bacterial infections: Strategies for escaping from killing

• Neutrophils are crucial for the elimination of pathogens.
• Neutrophil extracellular traps capture and kill Gram-positive and negative bacteria.
• Pathogenic bacteria have the ability to escape from NETs.

Neutrophils are among the first responders to virulent factors. They kill microbes by phagocytosis, oxidative burst, and as neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). NETs production leads to unique cell death depending on, inter alia, reactive oxygen species (ROS). Recently a number of studies highlight the mechanism of bacterial escape from extracellular traps; the process that may influence the outcome of bacterial infections.