Origin of monocytes and macrophages in a committed progenitor.

Monocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs) are developmentally related regulators of the immune system that share the monocyte-macrophage DC progenitor (MDP) as a common precursor. Unlike differentiation into DCs, the distal pathways for differentiation into monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages are not fully elucidated. We have now demonstrated the existence of a clonogenic, monocyte- and macrophage-restricted progenitor cell derived from the MDP. This progenitor was a Ly6C(+) proliferating cell present in the bone marrow and spleen that generated the major monocyte subsets and macrophages, but not DCs or neutrophils. By in-depth quantitative proteomics, we characterized changes in the proteome during monocyte differentiation, which provided insight into the molecular principles of developing monocytes, such as their functional maturation. Thus, we found that monocytes and macrophages were renewed independently of DCs from a committed progenitor.