ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2013
Modulation of macrophage phenotype by cell shape.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 726 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
726 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 1,437 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Balancing topographical guidance and spatial capacity: Optimized spatial density of micropatterned filaments for enhanced peripheral nerve regeneration.Materials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Light stimuli attenuates inflammatory activation in primary bone marrow-derived macrophages.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2026Article
- Engineered microvesicle-mediated multimodal therapy resolves ulcerative colitis via synergistic immunoregulation, barrier restoration, and microbiota remodeling.Materials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Biomaterial-guided macrophage modulation: Therapeutic engineering of immune microenvironments.Trends in immunology · 2026Review
- Immune-epigenetic convergence in biomaterial-guided tissue regeneration.Materials today. Bio · 2026Article
- Distinct effector functions and synergy of CAR mRNA-engineered T cells and macrophages in the clearance of CD19Journal of advanced research · 2026Article
- Macrophage Dab1 Links Early Hypoxia to Adaptive Angiogenesis to Drive Peripheral Nerve Repair.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Electroconductive and biodegradable scaffold based on alginate/polyaniline hydrogel loaded with green synthesized magnesium oxide nanoparticles for bone regeneration.Cell and tissue banking · 2026Article
- The Brucella effector protein BtpB facilitates STAT3 activation to regulate polarization in macrophages during infection.Veterinary research · 2026Article
- Multifunctional Polyphenol-Polymer Nanocomposite Hydrogel Targeting Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, and Infection in Diabetic Wounds.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Topographical design principles for osteochondral tissue engineering.Bioactive materials · 2026Review
- Study on the Regulatory Mechanism of GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Liraglutide in Diabetic Corneal Epithelial Wound Healing.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2026Article
- Engineered piezoelectric dressings advance cutaneous wound healing.Bioactive materials · 2026Review
- A species-specific protein corona determines osteogenic fate of multi-walled carbon nanotubes by modulating macrophage polarization.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Article
- Regulating Cells Fate and Function to Facilitate Bone Regeneration via Designing Programmable Bio-Interactive Materials.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- KSTITCH links cellular morphology and gene expression in spatial transcriptomics.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
666 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Phenotypic polarization of macrophages is regulated by a milieu of cues in the local tissue microenvironment. Although much is known about how soluble factors influence macrophage polarization, relatively little is known about how physical cues present in the extracellular environment might modulate proinflammatory (M1) vs. prohealing (M2) activation. Specifically, the role of cell shape has not been explored, even though it has been observed that macrophages adopt different geometries in vivo. We and others observed that macrophages polarized toward different phenotypes in vitro exhibit dramatic changes in cell shape: M2 cells exhibit an elongated shape compared with M1 cells. Using a micropatterning approach to control macrophage cell shape directly, we demonstrate here that elongation itself, without exogenous cytokines, leads to the expression of M2 phenotype markers and reduces the secretion of inflammatory cytokines. Moreover, elongation enhances the effects of M2-inducing cytokines IL-4 and IL-13 and protects cells from M1-inducing stimuli LPS and IFN-γ. In addition shape- but not cytokine-induced polarization is abrogated when actin and actin/myosin contractility are inhibited by pharmacological agents, suggesting a role for the cytoskeleton in the control of macrophage polarization by cell geometry. Our studies demonstrate that alterations in cell shape associated with changes in ECM architecture may provide integral cues to modulate macrophage phenotype polarization.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.