Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Reproductive Health, Queen's Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH16 4TJ, UK.
Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
Trends Immunol. 2021 Feb;42(2):104-119. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2020.12.001. Epub 2021 Jan 11.
Monocytes are progenitors to macrophages and a subclass of dendritic cells (monocyte-derived dendritic cells, MoDCs), but they also act as circulating sensors that respond to environmental changes and disease. Technological advances have defined the production of classical monocytes in the bone marrow through the identification of lineage-determining transcription factors (LDTFs) and have proposed alternative routes of differentiation. Monocytes released into the circulation can be recruited to tissues by specific chemoattractants where they respond to sequential niche-specific signals that determine their differentiation into terminal effector cells. New aspects of monocyte biology in the circulation are being revealed, exemplified by the influence of cancer on the systemic alteration of monocyte subset abundance and transcriptional profiles. These changes can act to enhance the metastatic spread of primary cancers and may offer therapeutic opportunities.
单核细胞是巨噬细胞和树突状细胞（单核细胞衍生的树突状细胞，MoDC）的前体细胞，但它们也作为循环传感器发挥作用，对环境变化和疾病做出反应。技术进步通过鉴定谱系决定转录因子（LDTFs）定义了骨髓中经典单核细胞的产生，并提出了分化的替代途径。释放到循环中的单核细胞可以通过特定趋化因子募集到组织中，在那里它们对决定其分化为终末效应细胞的顺序龛特异性信号做出反应。循环中单核细胞生物学的新方面正在被揭示，例如癌症对单核细胞亚群丰度和转录谱的系统改变的影响。这些变化可以增强原发性癌症的转移扩散，并可能提供治疗机会。
