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.

NLRP3 inflammasome plays dual, time-dependent roles during acute wound healing

Wound healing is a multistep biological process involving inflammation, tissue formation, and remodeling.

2 Mar 2026

MERLIN algorithm unlocks immune cell location memory in organs

A new AI-based method reconstructs spatial information about where immune cells were originally located in an organ, even after these cells have been removed from the tissue and analyzed individually.

2 Mar 2026

Study identifies a promising strategy to treat brain metastases

A new study from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine has identified a promising strategy to treat brain metastases, one of the most challenging and deadly complications of lung cancer.

2 Mar 2026

Targeted PET/CT tracer improves early prediction of treatment response in rheumatoid arthritis patients

A new targeted PET/CT tracer can detect treatment response in rheumatoid arthritis patients in as little as four weeks, and potentially even at the start of treatment, according to new research published in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

27 Feb 2026

Genetic switch MafB enables macrophages to reach full maturity and preserve organ health

Researchers at the University of Liège have identified a key genetic regulator that enables macrophages to reach full maturity and preserve the health of our organs.

26 Feb 2026

ATG14 found to be a critical defender against hepatic injury and fibrosis

Autophagy is indispensable for maintaining hepatocyte integrity, metabolic homeostasis, and survival. While several autophagy-related proteins have been studied in hepatic physiology, the specific role of Autophagy Related 14 (ATG14) in liver health has remained unclear.

24 Feb 2026

Macrophage immune memory depends on lingering interferon gamma

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, have discovered that immune cells known as macrophages remain poised to fight repeat infections due to the persistent presence of signaling molecules left behind during previous infections.

18 Feb 2026

Developmental ANGPTL4 deficiency protects mice from colitis and tumors

A novel study using a mouse model has found that the absence of the angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) protein during development triggers a long-lasting reprogramming of the immune system that protects against intestinal inflammation.

18 Feb 2026

Engineered Listeria boosts innate immunity against cancer

After nearly 40 years of research on how Listeria bacteria manipulate our cells and battle our immune system to cause listeriosis, Daniel Portnoy and his colleagues have discovered a way to turn the bacteria into a potent booster of the immune system - and a potential weapon against cancer.

13 Feb 2026

Boosting good immune cells can help fight insulin resistance and diabetes

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine discovered a surprising new way the body can fight insulin resistance and diabetes – by boosting a special type of "good" immune cell in fat tissue.

12 Feb 2026

IRF7 reshapes the behavior of vascular smooth muscle cells during atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis underlies most heart attacks and strokes and is now recognized as a chronic inflammatory disease rather than a simple disorder of cholesterol deposition.

9 Feb 2026

Burn pit particles trigger lung inflammation through immune activation

A new study from National Jewish Health helps explain how exposure to burn pit smoke and desert dust may damage the lungs of military service members deployed to regions such as Afghanistan and Iraq.

7 Feb 2026

Trojan horse immunotherapy opens tumors to immune system attack

Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed an experimental immunotherapy that takes an unconventional approach to metastatic cancer: instead of going after cancer cells directly, it targets the cells that protect them.

22 Jan 2026

Targeted uterine mRNA treatment boosts fertility outcomes in mice

Researchers from the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine Center for Nanomedicine - which designs nanotechnology-based platforms for clinical translation across specialties - developed a strategy for delivering therapeutic messenger RNA (mRNA) to the inner lining of the uterus (endometrium) in mice via modified lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), which are small capsules made of fatty molecules.

22 Jan 2026

Discovery explains why people with IBD have higher risk of colorectal cancer

A chain of immune reactions in the gut—driven by a key signaling protein and a surge of white blood cells from the bone marrow—may help explain why people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have a higher risk of colorectal cancer, according to a preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

22 Jan 2026

Study shows DHPS enzyme controls macrophage maturation across multiple organs

A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that an enzyme involved in protein translation is essential for circulating immune cells, called monocytes, to mature into tissue-resident macrophages, a specialized population of immune cells that maintain organ health by clearing dead cells and debris.

21 Jan 2026

Immune dysfunction persists after combined TB and HIV therapy

The immune system remains seriously out-of-whack – in an inflammatory state of overactivation and impaired functionality – following the international gold standard for treating people with latent tuberculosis (TB) and HIV, a team at Texas Biomedical Research Institute reports in Nature Communications.

14 Jan 2026