Does niche competition determine the origin of tissue-resident macrophages?
Open accessAbstract
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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Peripheral immune cells may replace microglial populations, though this is controversial.
“Peripheral immune cells may also replace microglial populations,5,23,30–32 though this is controversial.”
From TET2-mutant myeloid cells mitigate Alzheimer’s disease progression via CNS infiltration and enhanced phagocytosis in mice (2025) · cites this paper as [32]
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References 69 · Cited by 409
- Authors
- Guilliams, M., & Scott, C. L.
- Affiliations
- Ghent University (BE)
- Corresponding author
- Guilliams, Martin
- Scott, Charlotte L.
- Venue
- Nature Reviews Immunology
- Published
- 2017-05-02
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 451-460
- ISSN
- 1474-1733 (ISSN-L)
- 1474-1741
- OpenAlex
- W2611921452
- Cited by
- 409
- References
- 69
- Citations by year
- 2026: 26 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 44 · 2022: 55 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 66 · 2018: 50 · 2017: 19
- FWCI
- 5.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- zenodo.org
- Licence
- other-oa
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature reviews. Immunology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (107364/Z/15/Z)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immune cells in cancer
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Phagocytosis and Immune Regulation
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular Diseases
- Keywords
- tissue-resident macrophages, macrophage ontogeny, niche competition, monocyte differentiation, macrophage precursors, macrophage identity
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Cell Differentiation, Humans, Macrophages, Monocytes, Organ Specificity, Cellular Microenvironment
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