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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Exp Med. May 20, 2015; 5(2): 64-76
Published online May 20, 2015. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v5.i2.64
Spotlights on immunological effects of reactive nitrogen species: When inflammation says nitric oxide
Andrea Predonzani, Bianca Calì, Andrielly HR Agnellini, Barbara Molon
Andrea Predonzani, Barbara Molon, Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV IRCCS, 35128 Padova, Italy
Bianca Calì, Andrielly HR Agnellini, Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, 35129 Padova, Italy
Bianca Calì, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padua, 35122 Padova, Italy
Andrielly HR Agnellini, Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology, Oncology and Immunology Section, University of Padua, 35128 Padova, Italy
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this manuscript.
Supported by Grant from the Italian Ministry of Health, BANDO GIOVANI RICERCATORI, No. 2009-GR-2009-1558698; Agnellini AHR was granted by Cariparo Fundation Fellowship.
Conflict-of-interest: Authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dott. Barbara Molon, Istituto Oncologico Veneto, Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS), Via Gattamelata, 64, 35128 Padova, Italy. barbara.molon@unipd.it
Telephone: +39-049-7923228 Fax: +39-049-7923250
Received: October 15, 2014
Peer-review started: October 16, 2014
First decision: December 17, 2014
Revised: January 9, 2015
Accepted: February 4, 2015
Article in press: February 9, 2015
Published online: May 20, 2015
Processing time: 217 Days and 14.4 Hours
Abstract

Over the last decades, nitric oxide (NO) has been definitively recognised as one of the key players involved in immunity and inflammation. NO generation was originally described in activated macrophages, which still represent the prototype of NO-producing cells. Notwithstanding, additional cell subsets belonging to both innate and adaptive immunity have been documented to sustain NO propagation by means of the enzymatic activity of different nitric oxide synthase isoforms. Furthermore, due to its chemical characteristics, NO could rapidly react with other free radicals to generate different reactive nitrogen species (RNS), which have been intriguingly associated with many pathological conditions. Nonetheless, the plethora of NO/RNS-mediated effects still remains extremely puzzling. The aim of this manuscript is to dig into the broad literature on the topic to provide intriguing insights on NO-mediated circuits within immune system. We analysed NO and RNS immunological clues arising from their biochemical properties, immunomodulatory activities and finally dealing with their impact on different pathological scenarios with far prompting intriguing perspectives for their pharmacological targeting.

Keywords: Nitric oxide; Reactive nitrogen species; Post-translational modification; Immune cells; Immune diseases

Core tip: Nitric oxide (NO) is a diffusible molecule, which is responsible for many physiological and pathological conditions. In this work we described some of its chemical characteristics and how it is generated. More, NO could rapidly react with other free radicals to generate different reactive nitrogen species (RNS). Indeed, we addressed the contribution of NO/RNS in different immune cells and how these reactive molecules are pivotal to control cellular responses focusing on inflammatory settings.