Tokyo team IDs monocyte subtype for inflammation recovery, repair

Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences researchers identified a subpopulation of immunoregulatory monocytes that can resolve systemic inflammation and promote tissue repair, suggesting the monocyte subset could be targeted to treat inflammatory diseases such as colitis.

Bone marrow-derived monocytes that highly express lymphocyte antigen 6 (LY6) are known to migrate to a site of infection or injury and induce inflammation to prevent infection. Once the source of tissue injury is resolved, the acute inflammatory response shifts to tissue repair and regeneration; however, the source of cells responsible for recovery was previously unknown...