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The elegance of a macrophage

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 15, pages 196–198 (2018)Cite this article

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In the latest issue of Nature Immunology, Piccolo et al.1 elegantly explored the effect of coexisting interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and interleukin 4 (IL-4) antagonistic signals on macrophage transcriptional and epigenetic profiles and, interestingly, identified a plastic cross-talk as opposed to mutually exclusive programs between M1 and M2 polarized macrophages. Their results support the fascinating hypothesis that transcriptional and epigenetic reprogramming overcame genetics to drive the evolution of eukaryotic organisms. A rapid reshaping of chromatin acetylation redirected the expression of hundreds of genes under the control of a few transcription factors in response to two coexisting but opposing signals that indicated inflammation and its resolution simultaneously.

We are currently understanding increasingly more about epigenetics in different areas of biology. Epigenetic changes initially allowed adaptation against external perturbations; they then became the basis of a complex organization that led to a flexible, coordinated and context-dependent expression of a multitude of genes that significantly contributed to the evolution of eukaryotic organisms.2 In other scenarios, the epigenome is what distinguishes humans from a nematode such as Caenorhabditis elegans, in which the genome encodes nearly the same number of genes as the human genome but results in 300 neurons instead of 100 billion.3 Social insects such as bees modulate the same genome by nutritional input to have two phenotypically distinct females, queens and workers, by simply altering the epigenome with royal jelly, which globally inhibits DNA methylation.4

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, Italy

    Maria De Santis, Massimo Locati & Carlo Selmi

  2. Laboratory of Leukocyte Biology, Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, Italy,

    Massimo Locati

  3. BIOMETRA Department, University of Milan, Milan, Italy,

    Carlo Selmi

Authors
  1. Maria De Santis
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  2. Massimo Locati
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  3. Carlo Selmi
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Correspondence to Carlo Selmi.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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De Santis, M., Locati, M. & Selmi, C. The elegance of a macrophage. Cell Mol Immunol 15, 196–198 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2017.64

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