An innate immune cell that can phagocytose material and regulate tissue and immune responses. Its behaviour varies with local signals and cellular history.
An epithelioid macrophage is an activated macrophage with an enlarged, epithelial-like appearance. Such macrophages can form tightly organized groups in a granuloma, a tissue response that contains persistent material or infection. The resemblance concerns cell shape and arrangement: it does not make the cell an epithelial cell. Some epithelioid macrophages participate in the formation of multinucleated giant cells. [ref]
Immunobiology: The Immune System in Health and Disease, 5th edition by Charles A. Janeway, Jr. and others. Chapter 8, T Cell-Mediated Immunity: macrophage activation and granuloma formation
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