Macrophages, Immunity, and Metabolic Disease

Macrophages, immunity, and metabolic disease.

Chronic, low-grade adipose tissue inflammation is a key etiological mechanism linking the increasing incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity. It is well recognized that the immune system and metabolism are highly integrated, and macrophages, in particular, have been identified as critical effector cells in the initiation of inflammation and insulin resistance. Recent advances have been m...

The Janus face of macrophages in immunity.

In 1882, Ilya Mechnikov discovered the phenomenon of phagocytosis when he studied larvae of starfishes that were present on small thorns from a tangerine tree that had been prepared for Christmas. The next morning he found the thorns surrounded by the mobile cells. Knowing that when inflammation occurs in animals that have a blood vascular system leukocytes escape from their blood vessels, it o...

The role of macrophages in tumour immunity.

Metabolic shifts in immunity and inflammation.

Sites of ongoing inflammation and triggered immune responses are characterized by significant changes in metabolic activity. Recent studies have indicated that such shifts in tissue metabolism result from a combination of profound recruitment of inflammatory cells (neutrophils and monocytes) and high proliferation rates among lymphocyte populations. The resultant shifts in energy supply and dem...

Sinusoidal immunity: macrophages at the lymphohematopoietic interface.

Macrophages are widely distributed throughout the body, performing vital homeostatic and defense functions after local and systemic perturbation within tissues. In concert with closely related dendritic cells and other myeloid and lymphoid cells, which mediate the innate and adaptive immune response, macrophages determine the outcome of the inflammatory and repair processes that accompany steri...