Tissue macrophages: origin, heterogenity, biological functions, diseases and therapeutic targets

作者：Fan Guan, Ruixuan Wang, Zhenjie Yi, Peng Luo, Wanyao Liu, Yao Xie, Zaoqu Liu, Zhiwei Xia, Hao Zhang, Quan Cheng · 发表于：Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1038/s41392-025-02124-y · 被引用次数：326 · 研究领域：Immune cells in cancer、Phagocytosis and Immune Regulation、Immune Cell Function and Interaction

Macrophages are immune cells belonging to the mononuclear phagocyte system. They play crucial roles in immune defense, surveillance, and homeostasis. This review systematically discusses the types of hematopoietic progenitors that give rise to macrophages, including primitive hematopoietic progenitors, erythro-myeloid progenitors, and hematopoietic stem cells. These progenitors have distinct genetic backgrounds and developmental processes. Accordingly, macrophages exhibit complex and diverse functions in the body, including phagocytosis and clearance of cellular debris, antigen presentation, and immune response, regulation of inflammation and cytokine production, tissue remodeling and repair, and multi-level regulatory signaling pathways/crosstalk involved in homeostasis and physiology. Besides, tumor-associated macrophages are a key component of the TME, exhibiting both anti-tumor and pro-tumor properties. Furthermore, the functional status of macrophages is closely linked to the development of various diseases, including cancer, autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, metabolic conditions, and trauma. Targeting macrophages has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy in these contexts. Clinical trials of macrophage-based targeted drugs, macrophage-based immunotherapies, and nanoparticle-based therapy were comprehensively summarized. Potential challenges and future directions in targeting macrophages have also been discussed. Overall, our...