内容简介：
Mononuclear phagocytes, which include macrophages, monocytes and their precursor cells, are the most important cells in the host defence against micro-organisms and tumor cells. During the last twenty-five years research on the biology of mononuclear phagocytes has increased tremendously. This motivated Professor R van Furth to organize five international conferences on this subject in Leiden, the Netherlands. The edited proceedings of these meetings were published: in 1970 "Mononuclear Phagocytes"; in 1975 "Mononuclear Phagocytes in Immunity, Infections and Pathology"; in 1980 "Mononuclear Phagocytes - Functional Aspects"; and in 1985 "Mononuclear Phagocytes - Characteristics, Physiology and Function". Reviews of these volumes, published in international journals, praised them as the most up-to-date state of the art publications. The publication of 1991 includes 88 chapters written by more than 200 authors.