Human Regulatory Macrophages

Regulatory macrophages (M regs) are a novel type of suppressor macrophage which may be a particularly suitable cell for inducing tolerance of solid organ transplants. In this article, we provide a detailed description of the generation of human M regs from peripheral blood monocytes and methods for the assessment of their phenotype. The uniqueness of the human M reg is best appreciated when the M reg is compared to macrophages in other states of activation; therefore, protocols are provided for generating five comparator macrophage types which have been used as cell type-specificity controls in our work.