title: Iron trafficking and metabolism in macrophages: contribution to the polarized phenotype.
abstract: During inflammation, proinflammatory macrophages sequester iron as a well known bacteriostatic mechanism. Alternative activation of macrophages is linked to tissue repair, and during this process the expression pattern of genes important for iron homeostasis is distinct from that in proinflammatory macrophages. This leads to an increased capacity of the alternatively activated macrophages for heme uptake, via scavenger receptors, and for production of anti-inflammatory mediators via heme-oxygenase-dependent heme catabolism. Alternatively activated macrophages also release non-heme iron into tissues via ferroportin. Here, we propose that the iron-release-associated phenotype of alternatively activated macrophages significantly contributes to their role in various conditions, including tissue repair and tumor growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Morphology and Biomedical Sciences Città Studi, University of Milan, Milan, Italy. gaetano.cairo@unimi.it
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cairo
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Recalcati
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mantovani
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Locati
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D016764:Cell Polarity; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D010641:Phenotype
chemical_list: D007501:Iron