Advanced Age Impairs Macrophage Polarization

Reg3β deficiency impairs pancreatic tumor growth by skewing macrophage polarization.

The lectin Reg3β provides crucial protection to various tissues against inflammation, a potential risk factor for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Reg3β is also overexpressed in serum and pancreatic juice from patients with this cancer, but its function in this context remains to be elucidated. In this study, we investigated the role of Reg3β in tumor development in an orthotopic mouse model o...

Macrophage Polarization Mini Review

In the 1990s it was discovered that the cytokine interleukin (IL)-4 induced different effects on macrophage gene expression compared to that of interferon (IFN)-gamma and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In contrast to the classical activation of macrophages by IFN-gamma (Nathan CF et al. 1983), the macrophage gene expression induced by IL-4 was described as “alternative activation” (Stein M et al. 19...

Macrophage Polarization-Introduction

Macrophages (MΦ) are phagocytic cells of the innate immune system that are present in virtually all tissues. Macrophages differentiate from circulating peripheral-blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), which migrate from the bloodstream into tissue in the steady state or in response to trauma or infection [1]. Mononuclear cells develop from myeloid progenitor cells in the bone marrow that serve as th...

Macrophage Differentiation and Polarization

Orchestration of macrophage polarization.

In this issue of Blood, Ishii and colleagues shed new, fresh light on molecular mechanisms underlying one form of macrophage activation.