Laboratory of Myeloid Cell Biology in Tissue Damage and Inflammation, VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent, Belgium.
Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Faculty of Science, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Front Immunol. 2021 Jun 9;12:690813. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.690813. eCollection 2021.
With the increasing availability and accessibility of single cell technologies, much attention has been given to delineating the specific populations of cells present in any given tissue. In recent years, hepatic macrophage heterogeneity has also begun to be examined using these strategies. While previously any macrophage in the liver was considered to be a Kupffer cell (KC), several studies have recently revealed the presence of distinct subsets of hepatic macrophages, including those distinct from KCs both under homeostatic and non-homeostatic conditions. This heterogeneity has brought the concept of macrophage plasticity into question. Are KCs really as plastic as once thought, being capable of responding efficiently and specifically to any given stimuli? Or are the differential responses observed from hepatic macrophages in distinct settings due to the presence of multiple subsets of these cells? With these questions in mind, here we examine what is currently understood regarding hepatic macrophage heterogeneity in mouse and human and examine the role of heterogeneity plasticity in regards to hepatic macrophage responses in settings of both pathogen-induced and sterile inflammation.
随着单细胞技术的日益普及和可及性，人们越来越关注在任何给定组织中描绘存在的特定细胞群体。近年来，这些策略也开始用于研究肝巨噬细胞异质性。虽然以前肝脏中的任何巨噬细胞都被认为是库普弗细胞 (KC)，但最近的几项研究揭示了存在不同的肝巨噬细胞亚群，包括在稳态和非稳态条件下与 KC 不同的亚群。这种异质性使巨噬细胞可塑性的概念受到质疑。KC 是否真的像以前认为的那样具有可塑性，能够对任何给定的刺激做出有效和特异的反应？还是在不同的环境下，从肝巨噬细胞中观察到的不同反应是由于这些细胞存在多个亚群？考虑到这些问题，我们在此检查目前对小鼠和人类肝巨噬细胞异质性的理解，并研究异质性和可塑性在病原体诱导和无菌性炎症环境下肝巨噬细胞反应中的作用。
