肝脏是一个重要的器官,它不断适应自身抗原和外源性物质的广泛和动态的多样性。这涉及免疫细胞的积极贡献,特别是肝脏驻留的巨噬细胞,库普弗细胞(KCs),在肝脏稳态和疾病中发挥各种中枢功能。因此,KCs与它们的微环境相互作用,塑造肝细胞景观,控制肠道衍生信号整合,调节新陈代谢。受伤时,骨髓单核细胞来源的巨噬细胞的快速募集改变了这一现状,当不受约束时,极大地损害了肝脏稳态,免疫监视,和组织组织。几个因素决定了肝巨噬细胞在这些过程中的功能作用,比如他们的个体发育,激活/偏振轮廓和,重要的是,肝脏内的空间分布。肝脏免疫环境的耐受性和适应性丧失可能导致持续的炎症,肝纤维化,肝硬化,和促进肝癌的致瘤性小生境。在这次审查中,我们的目标是提供我们对肝脏巨噬细胞生物学理解的最新突破,特别是它们在肝脏时空环境中的多样性和适应性,以及潜在的治疗干预措施,这些干预措施可能是应对肝病学中不同病因的剩余临床挑战的关键。
The liver is a vital organ that continuously adapts to a wide and dynamic diversity of self-antigens and xenobiotics. This involves the active contribution of immune cells, particularly by the liver-resident macrophages, the Kupffer cells (KCs), which exert a variety of central functions in liver
homeostasis and disease. As such, KCs interact with their microenvironment to shape the hepatic cellular landscape, control gut-derived signal integration, and modulate metabolism. On injury, the rapid recruitment of bone marrow monocyte-derived macrophages alters this status quo and, when unrestrained, drastically compromises liver
homeostasis, immune surveillance, and tissue organization. Several factors determine the functional roles of liver macrophages in these processes, such as their ontogeny, activation/polarization profile and, importantly, spatial distribution within the liver. Loss of tolerance and adaptability of the hepatic immune environment may result in persistent inflammation, hepatic fibrosis, cirrhosis, and a tumorigenic niche promoting liver cancer. In this review, we aim at providing the most recent breakthroughs in our understanding of liver macrophage biology, particularly their diversity and adaptability in the hepatic spatiotemporal context, as well as on potential therapeutic interventions that may hold the key to tackling remaining clinical challenges of varying etiologies in hepatology.