Efficient production of human neutrophils from iPSCs that prevent murine lethal infection with immune cell recruitment

Neutrophils play an essential role in innate immune responses to bacterial and fungal infections, and loss of neutrophil function can increase the risk of acquiring lethal infections in clinical settings. Here, we show that engineered neutrophil-primed progenitors derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells can produce functional neutrophil-like cells at a clinically applicable scale that can act rapidly in vivo against lethal bacterial infections. Using 5 different mouse models, we systematically demonstrated that these neutrophil-like cells migrate to sites of inflammation and infection and increase survival against bacterial infection. In addition, we found that these human neutrophil-like cells can recruit murine immune cells. This system potentially provides a straight-forward solution for patients with neutrophil deficiency: an off-the-shelf neutrophil transfusion. This platform should facilitate the administration of human neutrophils for a broad spectrum of physiological and pathological conditions.