Functional plasticity of macrophages: reversible adaptation to changing microenvironments

Abstract

There has been substantial research activity in the past decade directed at phenotyping macrophage lineages and defining macrophage functional subsets or patterns of activity. The emphasis over the past 2–3 years has been to divide macrophage functional patterns into type 1 (Th1‐driven) or type 2 (Th2‐driven) functions. However, a huge array of environmental factors (including cytokines, chemokines, pattern recognition receptors, hormones) differentially regulates macrophage response patterns, resulting in the display of numerous distinct, functional phenotypes. Upon stimulation, a macrophage does not display just a single set of functions but rather displays a progression of functional changes in response to the progressive changes in its microenvironment. The remarkable ability of monocytes and tissue macrophages to adapt to changes in their microenvironment challenges the thesis that macrophages displaying unique tissue‐specific or response‐specific, functional patterns represent distinct lineages. With the exception of mature osteoclasts and mature dendritic cells, evidence supporting stable differentiation as the basis for macrophage functionl heterogeneity is equivocal. The concept of whether macrophages develop into functional subsets as opposed to continuously adapting their functional pattern in response to the changing environment of a progressive inflammatory response is important to resolve from the perspectives of therapeutic targeting and understanding the role of macrophages in disease pathogenesis.