Generation and functional characterization of macrophage cell lines from yolk sac precursors

Macrophage cell lines represent a very useful tool for the study of macrophage functions with high throughput. However, existing cell lines mostly derive from peripheral blood mononuclear cells or leukemic cells, which significantly limits the significance and validity of experiments. However, we and others have recently shown that tissue macrophages in adult organs, including cardiovascular tissues, mostly originate from embryonic precursors located in the yolk sac. These findings have strong implications for our understanding of the immune system and of macrophage biology in general. It also suggests that existing macrophage cell lines are insufficient to study tissue macrophage functions under culture conditions. We therefore aim to generate cell lines of bona fide yolk sac-derived macrophage progenitors, which can be expanded and differentiated into tissue macrophages as needed. This will allow scientists to conduct high throughput screening in disease-relevant cell culture models in vitro and to determine the macrophage potential to promote tissue regeneration in vivo.