AUTHOR=Guilliams Martin , van de Laar Lianne 

TITLE=A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Myeloid Cell Subsets: Practical Implementation of a Novel Mononuclear Phagocyte Classification System

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=Volume 6 - 2015

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2015.00406

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2015.00406

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=The classification of mononuclear phagocytes as either dendritic cells or macrophages has been mainly based on morphology, the expression of surface markers and assumed functional specialization. We have recently proposed a novel classification system of mononuclear phagocytes based on their ontogeny. Here we discuss the practical application of such a classification system through a number of prototypical examples we have encountered while hitchhiking from one subset to another, across species and between steady state and inflammatory settings. Finally, we discuss the advantages and drawbacks of such a classification system and propose a number of improvements to move from theoretical concepts to concrete guidelines.