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Immune Cells: Monocytes and Macrophages

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Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis

Abstract

Monocytes originate and develop from progenitor cells in the bone marrow before they enter blood circulation. They are characterized by a typical morphology and a set of characteristic surface antigens such as CD14 (part of the LPS receptor) or CD16 (Fc receptor). Monocytes play an important role in the innate immune response to pathogens, i.e., they show a rapid and dramatic response to bacterial surface molecules such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Monocytes influence T- and B-cell maturation as well as differentiation by secreted cytokines and direct cell–cell contact. Three functional subsets of human monocytes have been identified with some overlap between the types in humans.

After leaving the blood stream and migrating into organs and tissues monocytes differentiate into tissue macrophages or dendritic cells. Macrophages play a key role in the process of inflammation in many different tissues. They are able to secrete proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines (such as IL-1, TNF, IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1), free oxygen radicals, proteases, and other tissue-degrading enzymes. Intestinal macrophages represent one of the largest compartments of the mononuclear phagocyte system in the human body. They are localized mainly in the subepithelial region and constitute 10–20 % of mononuclear cells in the intestinal lamina propria. Normal intestinal macrophages show a differentiation into an anergic and “tolerogenic” phenotype that may be important for the mediation of tolerance to food antigens and commensal bacteria. These tolerogenic intestinal tissue macrophages (M2 type macrophages) and on the other hand newly infiltrating activated inflammatory macrophages (M1 type macrophages) are thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of IBD.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Hospital of Zürich, Rämistrasse 100, 8091, Zürich, Switzerland

    Gerhard Rogler

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  1. Gerhard Rogler
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Correspondence to Gerhard Rogler .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Charité Medical School—Humboldt-University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Daniel C. Baumgart

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Rogler, G. (2017). Immune Cells: Monocytes and Macrophages. In: Baumgart, D. (eds) Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33703-6_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33703-6_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-33701-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-33703-6

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