Macrophages inhibit and enhance endometriosis depending on their origin

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AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07

Endometrial macrophages promote endometriosis, while newly recruited monocyte-derived macrophages inhibit lesion growth in a mouse model.

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Abstract

Abstract Macrophages are intimately involved in the pathophysiology of endometriosis, a chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by the growth of endometrial-like tissue (lesions) outside the uterus. By combining genetic and pharmacological monocyte and macrophage depletion strategies we determined the ontogeny and function of macrophages in a mouse model of induced endometriosis. We demonstrate that lesion-resident macrophages are derived from eutopic endometrial tissue, infiltrating large peritoneal macrophages (LpM) and monocytes. Furthermore, we found endometriosis to trigger continuous recruitment of monocytes and expansion of CCR2+ LpM. Depletion of eutopic endometrial macrophages results in smaller endometriosis lesions, whereas constitutive inhibition of monocyte recruitment significantly reduces peritoneal macrophage populations and increased the number of lesions. We propose a putative model whereby endometrial macrophages are pro-endometriosis whilst newly-recruited monocyte-derived macrophages, possibly in LpM form, are ‘anti-endometriosis’. These observations highlight the importance of monocyte-derived macrophages in limiting disease progression.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (46)

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europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-04T01:45:00.660873+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:00:01.174412+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK