Macrophage polarization in tissue fibrosis

PeerJ. 2023 Oct 13:11:e16092. doi: 10.7717/peerj.16092. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Fibrosis can occur in all major organs with relentless progress, ultimately leading to organ failure and potentially death. Unfortunately, current clinical treatments cannot prevent or reverse tissue fibrosis. Thus, new and effective antifibrotic therapeutics are urgently needed. In recent years, a growing body of research shows that macrophages are involved in fibrosis. Macrophages are highly heterogeneous, polarizing into different phenotypes. Some studies have found that regulating macrophage polarization can inhibit the development of inflammation and cancer. However, the exact mechanism of macrophage polarization in different tissue fibrosis has not been fully elucidated. This review will discuss the major signaling pathways relevant to macrophage-driven fibrosis and profibrotic macrophage polarization, the role of macrophage polarization in fibrosis of lung, kidney, liver, skin, and heart, potential therapeutics targets, and investigational drugs currently in development, and hopefully, provide a useful review for the future treatment of fibrosis.

Keywords: Cardiac fibrosis; Kidney fibrosis; Liver fibrosis; Lung fibrosis; Macrophage polarization; Myofibroblasts; Skin fibrosis; Type 2 macrophage.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Fibrosis
  • Heart*
  • Humans
  • Inflammation / metabolism
  • Macrophages*
  • Signal Transduction

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Key Scientific Research Project of Medical Science of Shanxi Province (2021XM08), Basic Research Youth Project of Shanxi Province (202103021223442), and the 2020 Shanxi Province Emerging Industry Leadership Project (2020-15). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.