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Review
. 2019 Sep;106(3):687-693.
doi: 10.1002/JLB.MR1118-455R. Epub 2019 May 20.

The liver as a nursery for leukocytes

Kassiana Mafra  1 , Brenda Naemi Nakagaki  1 , Hortência Maciel Castro Oliveira  1 , Rafael Machado Rezende  2 , Maísa Mota Antunes  1 , Gustavo Batista Menezes  1
Affiliations
Review

The liver as a nursery for leukocytes

Kassiana Mafra et al. J Leukoc Biol. 2019 Sep.

Abstract

Leukocytes are a large population of cells spread within most tissues in the body. These cells may be either sessile (called as resident cells) or circulating leukocytes, which travel long journeys inside the vessels during their lifespan. Although production and maturation of these leukocytes in adults primarily occur in the bone marrow, it is well known that this process-called hematopoiesis-started in the embryonic life in different sites, including the yolk sac, placenta, and the liver. In this review, we will discuss how the liver acts as a pivotal site for leukocyte maturation during the embryo phase, and also how the most frequent liver-resident immune cell populations-namely Kupffer cells, dendritic cells, and lymphocytes-play a vital role in both tolerance and inflammatory responses to antigens from food, microbiota, and pathogens.

Keywords: hematopoiesis; immune system; immunity; in vivo imaging; liver; metabolism; newborn.

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References

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