Cytokine–ontogeny interaction shapes macrophage transcriptional states (combined GM-CSF– and M-CSF–derived macrophages)

We generated eight macrophage states using a cytokine–ontogeny matrix, combining two macrophage ontogenies (M-CSF and GM-CSF) with four cytokines (IL‑4, IFN‑γ, IL‑10, TGF‑β). Bulk RNA‑seq on five biological replicates per condition revealed that PC1 (54% variance) segregated ontogeny: GM‑CSF states loaded negatively, M‑CSF states positively. Gene‑set enrichment analysis of negative PC1 loadings highlighted NfkB programs, confirming the intrinsic inflammatory bias of GM‑CSF macrophages (Hamilton 2008; Hamilton et al. 2016)