Genetics of Macrophage Activation

Macrophages are major mediators of tissue injury in glomerulonephritis. We have demonstrated that a number of genetic loci control susceptibility to crescentic glomerulonephritis in an experimental model and that this is associated with marked differences in macrophage activation which are also under genetic control.

We are now mapping the genes that control macrophage gene expression and phenotype and will translate this work to study the genes that control human macrophage activation.