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Does niche competition determine the origin of tissue-resident macrophages?

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 17, pages 451–460 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Most tissue-resident macrophages are derived from embryonic precursors but, under certain circumstances, circulating monocytes can differentiate into self-maintaining tissue-resident macrophages that resemble their embryonic counterparts. In this Opinion article, we propose that distinct macrophage precursors have an almost identical potential to develop into resident macrophages but they compete for a restricted number of niches. The tight regulation of the niche ensures that monocytes do not differentiate into macrophages when the niche is full but that these cells can differentiate efficiently into macrophages when the niche is available. Imprinting by the niche would be the dominant factor conferring macrophage identity and self-maintenance capacity, rather than origin as was previously proposed.

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Figure 1: A decision tree for determining the origin of tissue-resident macrophage populations using the niche model.
Figure 2: The niche model.
Figure 3: The niche.
Figure 4: Possible scenarios when applying the niche model to inflammation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) (M.G.), the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO) (M.G. and C.L.S.) and Horizon 2020 (Marie Curie CIG to M.G. and Marie Curie IEF to C.L.S.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Belgium; and the Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Martin Guilliams and Charlotte L. Scott are at the Laboratory of Myeloid Cell Ontogeny and Functional Specialisation, VIB-UGhent Centre for Inflammation Research, Ghent 9052, Ghent University, Ghent 9052, Belgium.,

    Martin Guilliams & Charlotte L. Scott

  2. and the Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent 9052, Belgium.,

    Martin Guilliams & Charlotte L. Scott

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Correspondence to Martin Guilliams or Charlotte L. Scott.

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Guilliams, M., Scott, C. Does niche competition determine the origin of tissue-resident macrophages?. Nat Rev Immunol 17, 451–460 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri.2017.42

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