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Tumour-educated macrophages promote tumour progression and metastasis

Abstract

Evidence from clinical and experimental studies indicates that macrophages promote solid-tumour progression and metastasis. Macrophages are educated by the tumour microenvironment, so that they adopt a trophic role that facilitates angiogenesis, matrix breakdown and tumour-cell motility — all of which are elements of the metastatic process. During an inflammatory response, macrophages also produce many compounds — ranging from mutagenic oxygen and nitrogen radicals to angiogenic factors — that can contribute to cancer initiation and promotion. Macrophages therefore represent an important drug target for cancer prevention and cure.

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Figure 1: Pro- and anti-tumorigenic properties of macrophages depend on the cytokine microenvironment in the tumour.
Figure 2: Pro-tumorigenic functions of tumour-associated macrophages.
Figure 3: The leukocytic infiltration site as a portal for the exit of tumour cells.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the outstanding work of E. Lin in demonstrating roles for macrophages in mouse models of breast cancer in my laboratory, and thank A. Niklaus for helping with the figures. This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Albert Einstein Cancer Center. J. W. P. is the Betty and Sheldon E. Feinberg Senior Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research. This article is dedicated to Barry Kacinski, who first discovered CSF-1 receptor overexpression in human tumours and whose untimely death is deeply regretted.

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DATABASES

Cancer.gov

bladder cancer

breast cancer

cervical cancer

colorectal cancer

lung cancer

ovarian cancer

prostate cancer

stomach cancer

uterine cancer

LocusLink

CCL2

CCL4

CCL7

CCL8

CSF-1

ERBB1

GM-CSF

IFN-γ

IL-1

IL-4

IL-6

IL-12

MIF

MMP-2

MMP-7

MMP-9

MSP

TGF-β1

TNF-α

VEGF

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Pollard, J. Tumour-educated macrophages promote tumour progression and metastasis. Nat Rev Cancer 4, 71–78 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc1256

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