Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were separated by Ficoll-Paque (GE Health Care, Piscataway, NJ) gradient centrifugation. CD14+ cells were isolated from PBMCs by direct positive isolation using Dynabeads CD14 (Thermo Fisher Scientific) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. CD14+ cells were cultured in complete medium [RPMI 1640, 10% fetal calf serum, 5% human AB serum, 10 mM HEPES, 1% Penicillin-Streptomycin, 10 ng mL−1 macrophage colony-stimulating factor (Millipore, Billerica, MA)] for 7 days for differentiation into MDMs [24 (link)]. This study was approved by the University at Buffalo’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) committee, and the procedures followed are in accordance with institutional guidelines.