Journal article

Macrophage Activation and Polarization: Nomenclature and Experimental Guidelines

PJ Murray, JE Allen, SK Biswas, EA Fisher, DW Gilroy, S Goerdt, S Gordon, JA Hamilton, LB Ivashkiv, T Lawrence, M Locati, A Mantovani, FO Martinez, JL Mege, DM Mosser, G Natoli, JP Saeij, JL Schultze, KA Shirey, A Sica Show all

Immunity | Published : 2014

Abstract

Description of macrophage activation is currently contentious and confusing. Like the biblical Tower of Babel, macrophage activation encompasses a panoply of descriptors used in different ways. The lack of consensus on how to define macrophage activation in experiments invitro and invivo impedes progress in multiple ways, including the fact that many researchers still consider there to be only two types of activated macrophages, often termed M1 and M2. Here, we describe a set of standards encompassing three principles-the source of macrophages, definition of the activators, and a consensus collection of markers to describe macrophage activation-with the goal of unifying experimental standard..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Hartwell Foundation


Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by NIH grants AI062921 (P.J.M.), AI080621 (J.P.S.), HL084312 (E.A.F.), and AI18797 (K.A.S. and S.N.V.), Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation (P.J.M.), the Hartwell Foundation (P.J.M.), Cancer Center Core grant P30 CA21765 (P.J.M.), the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (P.J.M.), and the NIH Intramural Program (T.A.W.).