Monocyte and macrophage phenotypes: a look beyond systemic sclerosis

We read with interest the new data from Lescoat et al and their interesting comments concerning our research letter on the identification of circulating cells coexpressing M1 and M2 phenotype markers in patients affected by systemic sclerosis (SSc) compared with healthy subjects (HSs).1 2 In their study, Lescoat et al evaluated the mean of fluorescence intensity of specific markers of M1 and M2 phenotypes (CD80, CD206, CD204, CD163, CD169 and CD200R1) in macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) resting blood monocyte-derived-macrophages (MDMs) from HSs exposed to in vitro stimuli aiming to polarise them towards the M1, M2a and M2c phenotypes. The markers were also evaluated on the cell surface of the MDMs obtained from 11 to 16 SSc patients not treated with glucocorticoids and compared with those obtained from 13 HSs.1 The important conclusion highlighted is cultured circulating MDMs from patients with SSc showcells with a mixed M1/M2 signature, supporting our results.2 We will soon be able to complement …