title: Molecular control of activation and priming in macrophages.
abstract: In tissues, macrophages are exposed to metabolic, homeostatic and immunoregulatory signals of local or systemic origin that influence their basal functions and responses to danger signals. Signal-transduction pathways regulated by extracellular signals are coupled to distinct sets of broadly expressed stimulus-regulated transcription factors whose ability to elicit gene-expression changes is influenced by the accessibility of their binding sites in the macrophage genome. In turn, accessibility of macrophage-specific transcriptional regulatory elements (enhancers and promoters) is specified by transcription factors that determine the macrophage lineage or impose their tissue-specific properties. Here we review recent findings that advance the understanding of mechanisms underlying priming and signal-dependent activation of macrophages and discuss the effect of genetic variation on these processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Glass
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Gioacchino
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Natoli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic / Q000276:immunology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008262:Macrophage Activation / Q000276:immunology*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000276:immunology