Macrophage polarization

Biological process · 3 studies in the Atlas

The M1/M2 phenotypic switch in macrophages, an immunometabolic decision governed substantially by PI3K/AKT/mTOR signalling.

Macrophages are immune cells that can take on opposite jobs: attacking invaders (M1) or cleaning up and repairing tissue (M2). Which one they become depends heavily on how they burn fuel, and PI3K/AKT/mTOR signalling is a main controller of that choice.

The M1/M2 phenotypic switch in macrophages, an immunometabolic decision governed substantially by PI3K/AKT/mTOR signalling.

TL;DR. Macrophage polarization appears in 3 curated studies in Oliver's mTOR Atlas: 2 at the molecular level (cells, biochemistry, structure); 1 review. No study in people is recorded for it in the Atlas yet.

Evidence at a glance

Evidence	What it means	Studies
M	Molecular — cells, biochemistry, structure	2
R	Review — secondary literature, not a new result	1

No direct human evidence in the Atlas for this entity yet — everything below rests on animal or molecular work.

Studies

Year	Evidence	Study
2026	M	Brucella suis vaccine strain 2 promotes intracellular proliferation by inducing M2 macrophage polarization and autophagy through PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling. LI2026B Brucella suis vaccine strain 2 drives mixed M1/M2 macrophage polarisation and autophagic activation in BV2 cells; the M2 state and autophagy synergistically promote intracellular bacterial replication through PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling.
2026	R	The role of mTORC2/RICTOR in immune cells and inflammatory diseases. XU2026B mTORC2/RICTOR signaling (via AKT, SGK1, PKC) shapes Th1/Th2 differentiation, Treg stability, memory T cell formation, BCR signaling and plasma cell survival, and macrophage/DC/NK function; its role in tissue inflammation is context-dependent (exacerbating osteoarthritis and pancreatitis but restraining pro-inflammatory polarization in colorectal cancer), and dual mTORC1/2 inhibitors (e.g. AZD2014) show early but complicated promise.
2008	M	The TSC-mTOR signaling pathway regulates the innate inflammatory response WEI2008 The TSC-mTOR pathway controls the innate inflammatory response of monocytes/macrophages.

Related entities

mTOR 2 Immune function 2 TSC1/TSC2 1 T cell differentiation 1 Rapamycin 1 Rictor 1 Akt/PKB 1 PI3K 1 Autophagy 1 mTORC2 1 NF-κB 1

Cite this page

ShowHide

Barton, O. (2026). Macrophage polarization [Entity page]. In Oliver's mTOR Atlas [Data set]. https://mtor-atlas.org/process/macrophage-polarization/ · Dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22059963

@misc{atlas_process_macrophage_polarization,
  author       = {Barton, Oliver},
  title        = {{Oliver's mTOR Atlas}: Macrophage polarization},
  howpublished = {Entity page in a data set},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://mtor-atlas.org/process/macrophage-polarization/},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22059963}
}

Was this page useful?