Human activated macrophages and hypoxia: a comprehensive review of the literature
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Updated: Apr 17, 2026
Proteomic Analysis of Human Macrophage Polarization Under a Low Oxygen Environment
Published on: January 7, 2019
Fattah Sotoodehnejadnematalahi1, Bernard Burke2
1Department of Regenerative Biomedicine at Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology, ACECR, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract:
Macrophages accumulate in poorly vascularised and hypoxic sites including solid tumours, wounds and sites of infection and inflammation where they can be exposed to low levels of oxygen for long periods. Up to date, different studies have shown that a number of transcription factors are activated by hypoxia which in turn activate a broad array of mitogenic, pro-invasive, pro-angiogenic, and pro-metastatic genes. On the other hand, macrophages respond to hypoxia by up-regulating several genes which are chief factors in angiogenesis and tumorigenesis. Therefore, in this review article we focus mainly on the role of macrophages during inflammation and discuss their response to hypoxia by regulating a diverse array of transcription factors. We also review the existing literatures on hypoxia and its cellular and molecular mechanism which mediates macrophages activation.
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