Macrophages in Health and Non-infectious Disease 4.0

Dear Colleagues,

Having first been described more than 100 years ago, macrophages are still the focus of biomedical research. For about 50 years, they were considered solely part of the defense against pathogens intruding an organism; however, unravelling the mechanisms of inflammatory reaction regulation made it clear that macrophages not only possess effector functions but also act as important regulators of inflammation. A new boost was given to macrophage research in the last decade of the 20th century with the most essential study conducted in the lab of Siamon Gordon, which demonstrated alternative macrophage activation. This was a milestone in understanding macrophage function, and since that publication, a variety of macrophage markers and functional peculiarities have been described, and it has become clear that in a healthy organism, macrophages actively contribute to homeostasis and regulate processes of tolerance. Another intriguing subject is the complex interaction of tissue macrophages with resident microbiomes. This phenomenon contributes to the normal functioning of the gastrointestinal tract but also plays an important role in other organs. Apart from infectious diseases, it has been demonstrated that macrophages are actively involved in the pathogenesis of socially important non-infectious diseases, such as atherosclerosis, cancer, and diabetes. These findings have, as expected, led to the identification of macrophages as potential and highly attractive therapeutic targets. In this Special Issue, we aim to collect the most recent publications on the mechanisms that macrophages use to regulate homeostasis and their involvement in the pathogenesis of non-infectious diseases. We also welcome research describing novel macrophage markers that reflect their functional state or are involved in macrophage tolerance and training, as well as the interaction of macrophages with resident microbiomes.

Dr. Alexei Gratchev
Guest Editor

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• homeostasis
• macrophage training and tolerance
• tumor-associated macrophages
• chronic inflammation
• non-infectious diseases
• microbiome