Advances in the study of macrophage polarization in inflammatory immune
skin diseases
Abstract
In response to various microenvironmental stimuli, macrophages are
highly plastic and primarily polarized into the pro-inflammatory M1-type
and the anti-inflammatory M2-type, both of which perform almost entirely
opposing functions. This characteristic determines that macrophages
carry out various tasks during various stages of immunity and
inflammation. An imbalance in the M1/M2 macrophage ratio is often
observed in inflammatory immune skin diseases, and modulation of the
macrophage polarization phenotype exacerbates or alleviates the
associated symptoms. Therefore, this review presents the mechanisms of
macrophage polarization, inflammation-related signaling pathways
(JAK/STAT, NF-κB, PI3K/Akt) and the role of both in inflammatory immune
skin diseases (psoriasis, AD, SLE, BD, etc.) with the aim of providing
new directions for basic and clinical research of related diseases.