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Neutrophils rapidly release nucleoli-stored IFNα during infection

Xu, S.; Smirnov, A.; Kinsella, R. L.; Wise-Mitchell, A. D.; Alexander, J. M.; Rankin, A.; Patty, B.; Mikhail, S. M.; Bello, R. M.; Kreamalmeyer, D.; Boluarte, S.; Khan, A.; Allsup, B. L.; Mahmud, S.; Bryson, B. D.; Mattila, J.; Greer, E. L.; Ding, S.; Clemens, R.; Monteith, A. J.; Calo, E.; Stallings, C. L.

2026-05-20 immunology
10.64898/2026.05.18.726057 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Type I interferons (IFN-I) are critical for antiviral defense but can drive severe pathology when dysregulated. Excess IFN-I is associated with prominent neutrophil accumulation; however, the contribution of neutrophils to IFN-I overproduction remains underexplored. In all cell types previously studied, IFN-I is synthesized de novo following sensing of microbial or host-derived inflammatory stimuli. Contrary to this paradigm, we find that neutrophils express IFN during development and store it in the nucleolus, a membrane-less intranuclear condensate classically functioning in ribosome biogenesis. TLR-mediated bacterial sensing induces a nucleolar stress response in neutrophils that triggers rapid release of nucleoli-stored IFN independent of de novo protein synthesis. These findings reveal roles for the neutrophil nucleolus in IFN-I storage and secretion, identify the first naturally occurring immunoregulatory function of nucleolar stress, and provide insight into the relationship between detrimental IFN-I levels and neutrophil accumulation.

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