The intriguing normal acute inflammatory response in mice lacking vimentin

Summary Neutrophils express only two intermediate filament proteins, vimentin and, to a lesser extent, lamin B. Lamin B mutant mice die shortly after birth; however, mice lacking vimentin ( vim −/− ) develop and reproduce normally. Herein, we investigate for the first time the role of vimentin in general inflammation in vivo and in neutrophil functions ex vivo . Using the murine air pouch model, we show that the inflammatory response induced by lipopolysaccharide, interleukin‐21 or carageenan is, intriguingly, uncompromised in vim −/− mice and that neutrophil functions are not altered ex vivo . Our results suggest that vimentin is dispensable for the establishment of an acute inflammatory response in vivo . In addition, based on several criteria presented in this study, one has to accept the existence of a very complex compensatory mechanism to explain the intriguing normal inflammatory response in absence of vimentin.