Myeloid Cells
Myeloid cells include granulocytes, monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells. They can be found in tissue – where they help control development, homeostasis, and tissue repair – or circulating in the blood and lymphatic systems, where they are recruited to damaged tissue or sites of infection and play a vital role in immunity.1 Granulocytes are the most abundant myeloid cell in the blood, and can further be divided into eosinophils, basophils, and neutrophils.1
Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) are pathologically activated neutrophils or monocytes that are absent in healthy individuals, but appear in patients with cancer and conditions associated with chronic inflammation or stress.2,3 They have potent immunosuppressive activity,3 and contribute to drug resistance, and tumor angiogenesis, progression, and metastases.2 These characteristics make MDSCs a target for various treatment strategies, for example, a synergistic cancer therapy that is being studied to increase the efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors.4
Find out more on each cell, including formation, function, emerging research, the best investigative methods to use to study them, and common cell markers:
References
1. De Kleer I, Willems F et al. (2014) Ontogeny of myeloid cells. Front Immunol. 5:423. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2014.00423
2. Gabrilovich DI. (2017) Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells. Cancer Immunol Res. 5(1):3-8. doi:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-16-0297
3. Veglia F, Sanseviero E et al. (2021) Myeloid-derived suppressor cells in the era of increasing myeloid cell diversity. Nat Rev Immunol. 21(8):485-498. doi:10.1038/s41577-020-00490-y
4. Law AMK, Valdes-Mora F et al. (2020) Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells as a Therapeutic Target for Cancer. Cells. 9(3):561. doi:10.3390/cells9030561
Monocytes
Dendritic cells
Dendritic cells are antigen-presenting cells that act as the link between innate and adaptive immunity.Granulocytes
