Abstract
Macrophage activation is the main immunological process occurring during the development of several diseases, and the heterogeneity of macrophage activation or differentiation has been suggested to be involved in disease progression. In the present study, we attempted to identify molecules specifically expressed on human classically activated macrophages (M1) to investigate the significance of the M1-like phenotype in human diseases. Human monocyte-derived macrophages were differentiated into M1, M2a, M2b and M2c phenotypes, and also M1(-) (the M1 phenotype differentiated with interferon-γ) to eliminate the strong effects of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) on the gene expression profile. The gene expression profiles of those macrophage phenotypes were analyzed by a cDNA microarray analysis and were used for a bioinformatics examination to identify the markers of the M1 phenotype that are expressed in both M1 and M1(-). The gene expression profiles of murine macrophages were also evaluated. We identified guanylate-binding protein 5 (GBP5), which is associated nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat containing gene family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3)-mediated inflammasome assembly in the M1 macrophages of both humans and mice. Notably, the expression of GBP5 protein was detected in cultured M1(-) as well as in M1 macrophages by western blotting, which means that GBP5 is a more generalized marker of the M1 phenotype compared with the M1 markers that can be induced by LPS stimulation. GBP5 is a useful candidate marker of the M1 phenotype.