Abstract
Myeloid cells in the central nervous system (CNS) represent a heterogeneous class of innate immune cells that contribute to the maintenance of tissue homeostasis differentially during development and adulthood. The subsets of CNS myeloid cells identified so far, including parenchymal microglia and non-parenchymal meningeal, perivascular and choroid-plexus macrophages, as well as disease-associated monocytes, have classically been distinguished on the basis of their surface epitope expression, localization and morphology. However, studies using cell-specific targeting, in vivo imaging, single-cell expression analysis and other sophisticated tools have now increased the depth of knowledge of this immune-cell compartment and call for reevaluation of the traditional views on the origin, fate and function of distinct CNS myeloid subsets. The concepts of CNS macrophage biology that are emerging from these new insights have broad implications for the understanding and treatment of CNS diseases.
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Change history
26 April 2017
In the version of this article initially published, some of the arrows along the right side of Figure 1 were incorrect. The arrow from 'Ly6Chi monocyte' to 'pvMΦ long-living' should be deleted, and an arrow should be added from 'Ly6Chi monocyte' into the boxed area above (top right). The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.
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Acknowledgements
We thank A. Parera and C. Groß for critical proofreading. Supported by the competence network of multiple sclerosis funded by Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (M.P.), Sobek-Stiftung (M.P.), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 992, SFB1140, SFB/TRR167 and a Reinhart-Koselleck-Grant to M.P.; and SFB/TRR167 to D.E.) and the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Freiburg (Berta-Ottenstein-Programme; D.E.).
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Prinz, M., Erny, D. & Hagemeyer, N. Ontogeny and homeostasis of CNS myeloid cells. Nat Immunol 18, 385–392 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.3703
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.3703
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