Macrophage-1 antigen  Macrophage-1 antigen (or integrin αMβ2 or macrophage integrin or Mac-1) is a complement receptor ("CR3") consisting of CD11b (integrin αM) and CD18 (integrin β2). The integrin α chain is noncovalently bound to the integrin β chain. It binds to iC3b and can be involved in cellular adhesion, binding to the intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1). CR3 causes phagocytosis and destruction of cells opsonized with iC3b. CR3 and CR4 are thought to exhibit overlapping functions; however, the distinct binding sites to iC3b suggests differences in their functions. Additionally, CR3 has been shown to have therapeutic promise. Macrophage-1 antigen (hereafter complement receptor 3 or CR3) (CD11b/CD18) is a human cell surface receptor found on B and T lymphocytes, polymorphonuclear leukocytes (mostly neutrophils), NK cells, and mononuclear phagocytes like macrophages. CR3 is a pattern recognition receptor, capable of recognizing and binding to many molecules found on the surfaces of invading bacteria. CR3 also recognizes iC3b when bound to the surface of foreign cells. iC3b is generated by proteolysis of C3b and binding to the receptor causes phagocytosis and destruction of the foreign cell opsonized with iC3b. CR3 belongs to a family of cell surface receptors known as integrins (because they share this particular β chain, they are referred to as β2-integrins), which are extremely widely distributed throughout nature and which generally are important in cellular adhesion, migration, phagocytosis and other cell-cell interactions in a variety of cells and circumstances. Upregulation of Mac-1 in the presence of certain factors such as IL-2 may cause a prolongation of the life of the immune cell while the presence of TNF-α induces apoptosis and selective removal of the cell. A fully activated neutrophil may express on its membrane 200,000 or more CR3 molecules. Absence of CR3 results in reduced binding and ingestion of "Mycobacterium tuberculosis" in mice. In human mononuclear phagocytes, phagocytosis of "Mycobacterium tuberculosis" is mediated in part by human monocyte complement receptors including CR3.