Macrophage News and Research

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A macrophage is a type of white blood cell that surrounds and kills microorganisms, removes dead cells, and stimulates the action of other immune system cells.

SARS-CoV-2 rarely reaches first-trimester placentas but still disrupts early pregnancy immunity

Researchers analyzing 761 first-trimester pregnancies found that SARS-CoV-2 was rarely detected in placental tissues, suggesting in utero transmission early in pregnancy is uncommon. However, maternal infection was linked to immune dysregulation at the maternal-fetal interface, altered trophoblast signaling, and inflammatory changes that could affect placental development.

14 Apr 2026

Common osteoporosis drugs could slow or halt aneurysm progression

Aortic aneurysms are characterized by abnormal enlargement of the aorta, the primary artery responsible for carrying blood from the heart. Rupture often leads to sudden death, and currently, no effective drug therapies are available to halt disease progression.

14 Apr 2026

New target CD43 may improve leukemia immunotherapy outcomes

Macrophages, much like Alice of "Alice in Wonderland," recognize and consume tumor cells that display "eat me" surface markers.

11 Apr 2026

Intense light therapy reduces hypoxia-induced heart damage in mice

Right ventricular (RV) remodeling and dysfunction are serious cardiovascular consequences due to prolonged hypoxic exposure, commonly seen in conditions such as chronic lung disease and high-altitude environments.

10 Apr 2026

Future CAR therapy expands beyond T cells to treat diverse diseases

CAR-T therapy has transformed treatment for some blood cancers, with seven FDA-approved products and strong clinical responses in hematologic malignancies.

8 Apr 2026

Xuebijing injection reduces inflammation and ferroptosis in acute lung injury

Using an LPS-induced ALI mouse model and LPS-stimulated alveolar macrophages, they found XBJ reduced inflammatory cytokine surges, preserved alveolar barrier integrity, and limited tissue injury, while probing the molecular pathways and intracellular targets underlying these benefits.

7 Apr 2026

Gut-derived metabolites regulate immune cells in complex ways

Published on March 23, 2026, in Volume 2, article number 18 of the journal Immunity & Inflammation, the review begins by systematically outlining the sources and synthetic pathways of immune-relevant microbial metabolites, including bile acids, short-chain fatty acids, amino acid derivatives, vitamins, trimethylamine/trimethylamine N-oxide, and odd-chain fatty acids.

31 Mar 2026

APOE4 alters brain immunity and cognition differently in females and males

APOE4 drove sex-specific changes in meningeal immunity, lymphatic drainage, brain lipids, neuroinflammation, and cognition in mouse models, with females showing greater inflammatory and cognitive vulnerability. Suppressing innate immunity improved some cognitive outcomes in female E4/E4 mice but worsened them in male E4/E4 mice, underscoring the need for sex-tailored approaches.

29 Mar 2026

Microfluidic chips enable realistic modeling of tumor immune environments

The challenge is that the tumor immune microenvironment is not a static backdrop but a constantly shifting ecosystem shaped by cancer cells, immune cells, stromal cells, cytokines, and physical barriers.

26 Mar 2026

Immune cells use neurotransmitters to regulate health and disease

The article, titled "Emerging roles of immune cell-derived neurotransmitters in immunity and disease," published on March 17, 2026, in Immunity & Inflammation, provides a timely and authoritative review of how innate and adaptive immune cells-including macrophages, dendritic cells, natural killer cells, T cells, and B cells-produce and respond to classic neurotransmitters.

25 Mar 2026

Blocking a single protein could make hidden HPV-positive tumors vulnerable to treatment

A team of scientists at Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences have uncovered a mechanism that allows certain head and neck cancers to hide from the immune system, a discovery that could change how some of the most treatment resistant tumors are approached.

18 Mar 2026

New pathway explains poor response to bladder cancer immunotherapy

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Center have discovered a biological pathway that helps explain why some bladder cancers do not respond well to immunotherapy.

18 Mar 2026

Muscle-repairing macrophages trigger heterotopic ossification in mice

We have identified a macrophage population "Mrep" that plays an essential role in muscle repair. However, in Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), Mrep functions as a pathogenic cell that triggers heterotopic ossification.

18 Mar 2026

Protein MIIP suppresses colorectal cancer by regulating immune cell signaling

Colorectal cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide, largely due to metastasis and limited responses to immunotherapy in most patients.

16 Mar 2026

Pen-strep treatment rewires mechanical sensing in immune cells

Macrophages are central to mechanobiology research: their physical characteristics-stiffness, adhesion, and ECM (extracellular matrix) sensing-are inextricably linked to their phenotypic polarization and immune function.

13 Mar 2026

Dual-positive hybrid cells linked to shorter survival in advanced breast cancer

An enigmatic type of circulating tumor cell called a dual-positive (DP) cell is associated with shorter survival time in patients with advanced breast cancer, according to a study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian.

11 Mar 2026

TREM2 helps macrophages survive and repair radiation damaged skin

Recently, teams led by Prof. Yiming Zhang from Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University,Prof. Fazhi Qi from Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, and Prof. Junli Zhou from the Tenth Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University (Dongguan People's Hospital), focused on the regulatory mechanisms of macrophage function in radiation-induced skin injury and systematically elucidated the critical role of TREM2 in maintaining macrophage survival and promoting skin repair under radiation stress.

6 Mar 2026

3D-printed scaffolds use shape memory to heal infected bone defects

Infected bone defects arise in conditions such as osteomyelitis and post-traumatic bone infections, where microbial persistence and immune imbalance prevent effective healing.

4 Mar 2026

Inflammatory signals from vesicles increase cancer cell aggressiveness and invasiveness

Pro-inflammatory M1 macrophages involved in immune responses accelerate the progression of melanoma through the extracellular vesicles they secrete, a recent study from the University of Eastern Finland shows. The findings were published in Cell Communication and Signaling.

3 Mar 2026

Study reveals cellular and metabolic landscape of lymph node metastasis in breast cancer

A recent integrative analysis of single-cell sequencing and single-cell spatial mapping of lymph node metastasis in breast cancer reveals novel mechanisms of the metabolic-immune interaction that drive the spread of breast cancer.

2 Mar 2026