Monocytes and macrophages articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a progressive and incurable chronic condition that involves accumulation of inflammatory macrophages in the lung tissue. Authors here show in mouse models of lung disease that PRMT7, a protein arginine methyltransferase, is an important regulator of recruitment and the pro-inflammatory phenotype of macrophages.

    • Gizem Günes Günsel
    • , Thomas M. Conlon
    •  & Ali Önder Yildirim
  • Article
    | Open Access

    How ischaemic stroke affects the brain borders is not fully understood. Here the authors show that a stroke-associated myeloid cell population occurs exclusively in brain parenchyma that shares features with neurodegenerative microglia and blockade of proteins on these cells can ameliorate stroke symptoms.

    • Carolin Beuker
    • , David Schafflick
    •  & Jens Minnerup
  • Article
    | Open Access

    High-calorie diet promotes thiol oxidative stress and the reprogramming of blood monocytes, giving rise to obesogenic and proatherogenic macrophages. Here the authors report that loss of monocytic thiol transferase glutaredoxin 1 results in the derepression of sex-specific oxidative stress responses in macrophages, promoting atherogenesis and obesity in female mice.

    • Yong Joo Ahn
    • , Luxi Wang
    •  & Reto Asmis
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The advent of immunotherapy has revolutionised cancer therapeutics, but its application in the context of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has been limited. Here authors explore the effect of innate trained responses to fungal β-glucan and assess its effect in a murine model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma where they observe reduced tumour burden and enhanced survival.

    • Anne E. Geller
    • , Rejeena Shrestha
    •  & Jun Yan
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Obesity is associated with increased gut permeability, and microbial products that are leaked from the gut may contribute towards obesity-associated inflammation. Here the authors show that the leakage of gut extracellular vesicles containing microbial DNA leads to bacterial DNA accumulation in pancreatic β-cells, promoting obesity-associated islet inflammation.

    • Hong Gao
    • , Zhenlong Luo
    •  & Wei Ying
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The contribution of distinct subsets of macrophages to atherosclerosis is poorly understood. Here the authors describe a protective subset of vascular macrophages expressing the C-type lectin receptor CLEC4A2, which licenses monocytes to join the resident vascular macrophage pool and ensures vascular homeostasis.

    • Inhye Park
    • , Michael E. Goddard
    •  & Claudia Monaco
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Oxylipins are lipid mediators generated during infection for regulating inflammatory responses, but how they are removed is not completely clear. Here the authors show that cellular oxylipin removal is linked to mitochondria β-oxidation by CPT1, a mitochondria lipid importer protein, to serve as a metabolic checkpoint for oxylipin homeostasis and inflammation.

    • Mariya Misheva
    • , Konstantinos Kotzamanis
    •  & Valerie B. O’Donnell
  • Article
    | Open Access

    CRIg is expressed on liver macrophages and binds Gram-positive bacteria to mediate phagocytosis, but it is not clear how its phagocytic functions contribute to liver homeostasis or disease. Here the authors report that ethanol impairs hepatic clearance of translocated pathobionts, via decreased hepatic CRIg, which facilitates progression of alcoholic liver disease.

    • Yi Duan
    • , Huikuan Chu
    •  & Bernd Schnabl
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lactic acidosis is a metabolic state that occurs in injured tissues. Here the authors show that macrophages, in order to remain functional in acidosis, reduce their mitochondrial mass by mitophagy and rely on autophagy for survival, with mitochondrial integrity retained using acetoacetate as alternative fuel.

    • Clément Adam
    • , Léa Paolini
    •  & Pascale Jeannin
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The transcription factor, IRF5, has been implicated in the regulation of inflammation, but how IRF5 protein is activated is still unclear. Here the authors use inhibitor library screening, biochemical analyses and in vivo/ex vivo data to show that a protein tyrosine kinase, Pyk2, may be key for the activation of IRF5 in macrophages and inflammatory responses in the gut.

    • Grigory Ryzhakov
    • , Hannah Almuttaqi
    •  & Irina A. Udalova
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Muco-obstructive lung diseases are characterised by airway macrophage (AM) populations which may have epigenetic changes. Here using a mouse model the authors show epigenetic alteration of AMs with changes in LPS response, phagocytosis and efferocytosis similar to culture with mucus in vitro.

    • Joschka Hey
    • , Michelle Paulsen
    •  & Marcus A. Mall
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus is associated with reduced neutrophil recruitment. Here, Payne et al. link formylated peptides, which act as chemoattractants for neutrophils, with the antibiotic vancomycin and show that these hybrid compounds improve clearance of S. aureus by neutrophils.

    • Jennifer A. E. Payne
    • , Julien Tailhades
    •  & Max J. Cryle
  • Article
    | Open Access

    “Protein relocalisation plays a major role in the innate immune response but remains incompletely characterised. Here, the authors combine temporal proteomics with LOPIT, a spatial proteomic workflow, in a fully Bayesian framework to elucidate spatiotemporal proteomic changes during the LPS-induced immune response in THP-1 cells.

    • Claire M. Mulvey
    • , Lisa M. Breckels
    •  & Kathryn S. Lilley
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Adipose tissue is composed of a number of adipocytes and a number of other cells including immune cells. Here the authors use single-cell sequencing of murine brown adipose tissue immune cells and describe multiple macrophage and monocyte subsets and show that monocytes contribute to brown adipose tissue expansion.

    • Alexandre Gallerand
    • , Marion I. Stunault
    •  & Stoyan Ivanov
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Influenza infection during pregnancy can affect health of offspring but it is not clear how this affects immune responses. Here the authors use a mouse model to show that influenza infection during pregnancy can increase susceptibility to secondary infection and alter immune cell function in offspring.

    • Henning Jacobsen
    • , Kerstin Walendy-Gnirß
    •  & Gülsah Gabriel
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The serine/threonine kinase WNK1 is an inhibitor of chloride efflux. Here the authors show that this inhibition is a means of negatively regulating the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in macrophages, leading to reduced inflammatory responses.

    • Lindsey Mayes-Hopfinger
    • , Aura Enache
    •  & Emad S. Alnemri
  • Article
    | Open Access

    A longitudinal analysis of SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans is challenging. Here the authors show a single cell RNA-sequencing analysis of BAL fluid cells from ferrets and characterise the time dependent recruitment of macrophage subsets to the lungs in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

    • Jeong Seok Lee
    • , June-Young Koh
    •  & Su-Hyung Park
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Diverse macrophage subsets are found in adipose tissue where they regulate its physiology. Here, the authors used single-cell RNA sequencing to analyse the effect of post-prandial lipids on adipose tissue macrophages and identify Tim4 as a regulator of ABCA1+ macrophage function and post-prandial cholesterol transport.

    • M. S. Magalhaes
    • , P. Smith
    •  & C. Bénézech
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pre-engraftment syndrome is a major consideration during clinical application of unrelated cord blood transfusion and monocytes represent a critical cell type in immune-pathogenesis. Here the authors further establish the role of monocytes and GM-CSF in pre-engraftment syndrome and show clinical administration of tocilizumab limits pathology in pre-engraftment syndrome pathology in patients.

    • Linlin Jin
    • , Zimin Sun
    •  & Haiming Wei
  • Article
    | Open Access

    STAT1a is required for pro-inflammatory responses in macrophages. Here the authors reveal that post-translational modification of STAT1a, ADPribosylation, plays a critical role in enhancer formation and activation, thus modulating IFNγ-stimulated inflammatory responses in macrophages.

    • Rebecca Gupte
    • , Tulip Nandu
    •  & W. Lee Kraus
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Macrophages perform diverse functions during immune responses, but the molecular mechanisms by which physical properties of the tissue regulate macrophage behavior remain unknown. Here the authors find that Piezo1 is a mechanosensor of stiffness, and that its activity modulates macrophage polarization responses.

    • Hamza Atcha
    • , Amit Jairaman
    •  & Wendy F. Liu
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlled cell death can be an efficient anti-viral strategy, but also leads to tissue damage and needs to be balanced. Oyler-Yaniv et al. combine mathematical modelling and microscopy to show that exposure to TNF in response to viral infection causes cells to tune their speed-vs-accuracy trade-off in cell death decision to limit HSV-1 spread.

    • Jennifer Oyler-Yaniv
    • , Alon Oyler-Yaniv
    •  & Roy Wollman
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Body cavity macrophages reside on the serous surfaces of organs and believed to participate in organ repair following injury. Here the authors show with a fate-mapping reporter system that these cells, although accumulate at the surfaces of injured liver or lung, don’t penetrate deeply into the tissue.

    • Hengwei Jin
    • , Kuo Liu
    •  & Bin Zhou
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mycobacterial cell wall lipids can drive immunoevasion, but underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here the authors show TREM2 is a pattern recognition receptor that binds non-glycosylated mycolic acid-containing lipids and inhibits Mincle-induced anti-mycobacterial macrophage responses.

    • Ei’ichi Iizasa
    • , Yasushi Chuma
    •  & Hiromitsu Hara
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Peritoneal adhesions are a major cause of complications after abdominal surgery. Here the authors use a post-operative abdominal adhesion model in mice to show that resident F4/80HighCD206 macrophages form a protective barrier that can be enhanced by IL-4 administration or adoptive transfer of these cells.

    • Tomoya Ito
    • , Yusuke Shintani
    •  & Ken Suzuki
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Celastrol might be useful in treating rheumatoid arthritis in part by inhibiting apoptosis of macrophages; however, systemic toxicity is a concern. Here the authors design celastrol-loaded nanoparticles that release a payload in response to MMP9 cleavage and show these NPs are effective at inducing apoptosis of human macrophages in vitro and a therapeutic effect with an adjuvant-induced arthritis model in rats.

    • Caifeng Deng
    • , Quan Zhang
    •  & Zhirong Zhang
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multinucleated giant cells characterize granuloma formation in mycobacterial infections. Here the authors identify monocyte precursors with distinct immunological and metabolic properties as a source of the granuloma multinucleated giant cell compartment.

    • Anne Kathrin Lösslein
    • , Florens Lohrmann
    •  & Philipp Henneke
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cardiac immune cells play various roles in the maintenance of homeostasis and diseases in the heart. Here the authors show that cardiac resident macrophages are a critical regulator of cardiac impulse conduction through amphiregulin production, contributing to the prevention of sudden death.

    • Junichi Sugita
    • , Katsuhito Fujiu
    •  & Issei Komuro
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The peritoneal cavity is a complicated myeloid niche containing a mixed population of resident macrophages and infiltrating cells that are responsive to inflammatory cues. Here the authors trace the fate of these infiltrating macrophages, their conversion to resident cells and how this is altered by the local inflammatory state over time.

    • P. A. Louwe
    • , L. Badiola Gomez
    •  & S. J. Jenkins
  • Article
    | Open Access

    N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA modification regulates RNA metabolism, and has been implicated in immune regulation. Here, the authors show that the m6A methyltransferase, METTL3, translocates into the cytoplasm to increase viral RNA m6A modification, decreases viral ds RNA content, and thereby dampens the RIG/MDA5-induced anti-viral immunity.

    • Weinan Qiu
    • , Qingyang Zhang
    •  & Pengyuan Yang
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Myeloid cells are able to utilize a variety of monosaccharides from our diet, including fructose. Here the authors show that when monocytes are reliant on fructose as a carbon energy source they are reprogrammed towards oxidative metabolism, glutamine anaplerosis and a pro-inflammatory phenotype owing to excess pro-inflammatory cytokine production.

    • Nicholas Jones
    • , Julianna Blagih
    •  & Catherine A. Thornton
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Macrophages may polarize into different states with distinct regulatory functions for inflammation. Here the authors perform high-throughput in vitro screening of a library of ~4000 compounds to identify those with specific effects on human macrophage polarization, while RNAseq helps uncover the targets and pathways mediating these effects.

    • Guangan Hu
    • , Yang Su
    •  & Jianzhu Chen
  • Article
    | Open Access

    RAGE signalling is implicated in sepsis. Here the authors use T7 phage display to identify SLP76 as a binding partner for the cytosolic tail of RAGE and provide a reagent that can block this interaction and protect mice from sepsis in a caecal ligation and puncture model.

    • Zhengzheng Yan
    • , Haihua Luo
    •  & Yong Jiang
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Macrophages can be polarized by in vitro culture stimuli into M1 or M2 cells, but microenvironments in vivo are more complex. Here the authors analyze cultured macrophages stimulated with a combination of M1 and M2 stimuli by single-cell RNA sequencing, machine learning, and single-cell secretion profiling to show a surprising level of heterogeneity of response.

    • Andrés R. Muñoz-Rojas
    • , Ilana Kelsey
    •  & Kathryn Miller-Jensen
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mannose is present at trace levels in blood and regulates cancer growth. Here the authors show that supraphysiological levels of mannose can also regulate macrophages, limiting their production of IL-1β and increasing resistance of mice to LPS-induced endotoxemia and DSS-induced colitis.

    • Simone Torretta
    • , Alessandra Scagliola
    •  & Simone Cardaci
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Inhibition of the metabolic enzyme ATP-citrate lyase can attenuate atherosclerosis by preventing dyslipidemia and potentially also by reducing macrophage-mediated inflammation. Here, the authors show that specific targeting of ACLY in macrophages results in more stable atherosclerotic plaques.

    • Jeroen Baardman
    • , Sanne G. S. Verberk
    •  & Jan Van den Bossche
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Inflammation contributes to the development of metabolic disease through incompletely understood mechanisms. Here the authors report that deletion of the transcription factor KLF2 in myeloid cells leads to increased feeding and weight gain in mice with concomitant peripheral and central tissue inflammation, while overexpression protects against diet-induced metabolic disease.

    • David R. Sweet
    • , Neelakantan T. Vasudevan
    •  & Mukesh K. Jain
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Signaling of IL-33 via its receptor, ST2, has been implicated in macrophage function in tissue repair. Here the authors show, using genetic mouse models and single-cell transcriptomic data, that the IL-33/ST2 axis regulates both ILC2-derived IL-13 and macrophage differentiation/reparative function required for club cell regeneration.

    • Rania Dagher
    • , Alan M. Copenhaver
    •  & Marina Pretolani
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Arterial macrophages develop from either yolk sac or bone marrow progenitors. Here, the author show that ageing-induced reduction of arterial macrophages is not replenished by bone marrow-derived cells, but under inflammatory conditions circulating monocytes are recruited to maintain homeostasis, while arterial macrophages of yolk sac origin carry out tissue repair.

    • Tobias Weinberger
    • , Dena Esfandyari
    •  & Christian Schulz
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Anti-androgen therapy inhibits prostate cancer (PC) progression, and is thought to act directly on cancer cells. Here the authors show that androgen receptor is expressed on normal and PC-associated macrophages, and its stimulation alters macrophage secretome to promote migration of cultured PC cell lines.

    • Bianca Cioni
    • , Anniek Zaalberg
    •  & Andries M. Bergman
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The developmental origins and functions of testis macrophages remain incompletely characterized. Here, the authors show, using histology, high-dimensional mass cytometry and cell fate-mapping data, that interstitial and peritubular macrophages originate from distinct precursors and contribute distinctly to spermatogenesis.

    • Emmi Lokka
    • , Laura Lintukorpi
    •  & Marko Salmi
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Macrophages survey their surroundings using macropinocytosis, but its regulation is unclear. Here, the authors report that SLIT2, a known inhibitor of Rac GTPases, is an endogenous inhibitor of macropinocytosis, and that SLIT2 limits the uptake of NOD2 ligands into immune cells and subsequent release of the inflammatory chemokine, CXCL1, in vivo.

    • Vikrant K. Bhosle
    • , Tapas Mukherjee
    •  & Lisa A. Robinson
  • Article
    | Open Access

    As macrophages switch to a proinflammatory gylcolytic state they start to generate triglyceride-rich lipid droplets, but what function these droplets have in this context is not clear. Here the authors show that this triglyceride synthesis is requisite for prostaglandin E2 production and subsequent inflammatory activation.

    • Angela Castoldi
    • , Lauar B. Monteiro
    •  & Edward J. Pearce