MINI REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Inflammation
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1615340
Mechanisms and therapeutic strategies of macrophages and neutrophils inducing ulcerative colitis progression
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Acupuncture and Tuina, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250014, China, Jinan, China
- 2Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Classical Theory, Ministry of Education, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250355, PR China, Jinan, China
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Ulcerative colitis (UC)is a kind of chronic inflammatory bowel disease, is driven by dysregulated immune responses involving neutrophils (NEUs) and macrophages. NEUs exacerbate mucosal injury through reactive oxygen species (ROS), neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), proteases, and cytokine interactions, while also exhibiting dual roles in tissue repair. Macrophages contribute to UC progression via M1-mediated pro-inflammatory cytokine release and epithelial barrier disruption, whereas M2 macrophages promote resolution through anti-inflammatory signals (IL-10, TGF-β) and epithelial regeneration. Clinically, NEU-derived biomarkers predict disease activity and therapeutic response, while macrophage-targeted therapies modulate inflammation. This review summairzes current knowledge on the mechanistic roles of these immune cells in UC pathogenesis and their clinical implications, such as NET inhibition, MMP-9 blockade, and M2 polarization, which hold promise for precision medicine in UC.
Keywords: ulcerative colitis, neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), Macrophage polarization, Mucosalimmunity, biomarkers, targeted therapy
Received: 21 Apr 2025; Accepted: 15 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Zhang, Huang and Ma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yuxia Ma, School of Acupuncture and Tuina, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250014, China, Jinan, China
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