The amazing world of the mononuclear phagocytes keeps expanding at a truly awesome pace. As a result, maintaining currency with the latest developments and controversies that pertain to this cell type is increasingly difficult. The aspects covered in this volume have been selected to provide an overview of subject areas that either have recently become much better understood or hold the promise of new levels of understanding as they are developed in the future. The scope of topics ranges from how these cells develop, through the means that are used to regulate them, to the roles that they have in different tissues and in a variety of infectious diseases.