MINI REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1676953
This article is part of the Research TopicHarnessing Macrophage Modulation: Advancing Hematologic Cancer Treatment StrategiesView all 3 articles
Ontogeny Specification and Epigenetic Regulation of Macrophage Plasticity
Provisionally accepted
- Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (SYSUCC), Guangzhou, China
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Macrophages are ubiquitously distributed across tissues, playing pivotal roles in maintaining homeostasis under physiological conditions and modulating disease progression in pathological contexts. Although the classic M1/M2 classification of macrophage polarization provides a useful framework, it significantly oversimplifies the plasticity and heterogeneity of these cells.Recent advances that combine lineage tracing with multi-omic profiling have unveiled new insights into macrophage functional specification. In this mini-review, we examine how ontogeny, environmental cues, and genetic as well as epigenetic factors converge to drive macrophage plasticity through epigenetic reprogramming. Additionally, we highlight cutting-edge in situ profiling techniques that facilitate the study of macrophages within their native tissue microenvironment. A deeper understanding of macrophage plasticity promises to elucidate fundamental regulatory mechanisms and uncover novel therapeutic targets, paving the way for transformative disease treatments.
Keywords: macrophage plasticity, epigenetic reprogram, Ontogeny, Niche factor, In situ profiling system
Received: 31 Jul 2025; Accepted: 04 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang, Zheng and Tian. 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: Lin Tian, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (SYSUCC), Guangzhou, China
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