Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Tier 4 — Narrative / commentaryPeer-reviewed

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

Guan F, Wang R, Yi Z, Luo P, Liu W, Xie Y, Liu Z, Xia Z, Zhang H, Cheng Q.

Signal Transduct Target Ther · 2025

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Summary

This comprehensive narrative review, published in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, synthesises current understanding of tissue macrophage biology, encompassing their embryonic and haematopoietic origins, functional diversity across tissues, and contributions to inflammatory and chronic diseases. The authors likely examine macrophage polarisation, intercellular signalling, and the mechanistic basis for their roles in conditions such as cancer, metabolic disease, and fibrosis. The review further maps the therapeutic landscape targeting macrophage pathways, including pharmacological and immunological strategies under investigation.

UK applicability

This is a biomedical review with broad international applicability; whilst not specific to UK conditions, its findings are directly relevant to UK clinical research, NHS therapeutic development pipelines, and UKRI-funded immunology programmes targeting macrophage-mediated disease.

Key measures

Macrophage ontogeny, polarisation states (M1/M2), tissue-specific phenotypes, disease associations, therapeutic intervention strategies

Outcomes reported

The paper reviews the developmental origins, phenotypic heterogeneity, and biological functions of tissue macrophages, and evaluates their roles in disease pathogenesis and as therapeutic targets across multiple conditions.

Theme
Nutrition & health
Subject
Immunology & inflammatory disease
Study type
Narrative Review
Study design
Narrative review
Source type
Peer-reviewed study
Status
Published
Geography
International
System type
Human clinical
DOI
10.1038/s41392-025-02124-y
Catalogue ID
NRmo3f02hq-0bq

Topic tags

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