Molecular basis for tissue macrophage diversity

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19H03137
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 42030:Animal life science-related
• Research Institution: Osaka University (2021); Kyoto University (2019-2020)
• Principal Investigator: Okabe Yasutaka 大阪大学, 免疫学フロンティア研究センター, 特任准教授(常勤) (50522124)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: マクロファージ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Tissue-resident macrophages are a highly heterogeneous population performing specialized functions that are essential for the maintenance of tissue homeostasis. In this study, we focused on the transcription factors that are uniquely expressed in specific tissue-resident macrophage subsets, and determined whether these transcription factors function as master regulators controlling tissue-specific functions of macrophages. We found that the expression of some of these transcription factors exhibits variation among macrophages present in the same tissue environments. Additionally, we observed the fluctuation of the expression of the transcription factors results in the difference in the global gene expression pattern between tissue macrophages.

Free Research Field

免疫学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

癌、炎症性腸疾患、リウマチ、神経変性疾患、生活習慣病、肺胞蛋白症、大理石骨病などの多岐にわたる疾患において、マクロファージの機能異常がそれら疾患の発症・増悪化に密接に関与することが理解されつつある。本研究は、マクロファージの組織機能を包括的に解析するとともに、それら機能の異常が種々の疾患を引き起こす原因究明に貢献する可能性が考えられる。