Center for Systems Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Nat Biomed Eng. 2020 May;4(5):489-498. doi: 10.1038/s41551-020-0524-y. Epub 2020 Mar 18.
Tumour-infiltrating myeloid cells (TIMCs) are critical regulators of cancer growth. The different phenotypes, functions and therapeutic effects of these phagocytes have, however, been difficult to study. With the advent of single-cell-based technologies, a new 'worldview' is emerging: the classification of TIMCs into subtypes that are conserved across patients and across species. As the landscape of TIMCs is beginning to be understood, it opens up questions about the function of each TIMC subtype and its drugability. In this Perspective, we outline the current map of TIMC populations in cancer and their known and presumed functions, and discuss their therapeutic implications and the biological research questions that they give rise to. The answers should be particularly relevant for bioengineers, materials scientists and the chemical and pharmaceutical communities developing the next generation of cancer therapies.
肿瘤浸润髓系细胞（TIMCs）是癌症生长的关键调节者。然而，这些吞噬细胞的不同表型、功能和治疗效果很难研究。随着单细胞技术的出现，一种新的“世界观”正在出现：将 TIMCs 分为在患者和物种之间保守的亚型。随着 TIMC 景观开始被理解，它提出了关于每个 TIMC 亚型的功能及其可药性的问题。在本观点中，我们概述了癌症中 TIMC 群体的当前图谱及其已知和假定的功能，并讨论了它们的治疗意义以及它们引发的生物学研究问题。答案对于开发下一代癌症疗法的生物工程师、材料科学家以及化学和制药界应该特别相关。
