Ji Zoey Zeyuan, Chan Max Kam-Kwan, Chan Alex Siu-Wing, Leung Kam-Tong, Jiang Xiaohua, To Ka-Fai, Wu Yi, Tang Patrick Ming-Kuen
Department of Anatomical and Cellular Pathology, State Key Laboratory of Translational Oncology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Front Cell Dev Biol. 2023 Oct 26;11:1261749. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1261749. eCollection 2023.
Tumour-Associated Macrophages (TAMs) are one of the pivotal components of the tumour microenvironment. Their roles in the cancer immunity are complicated, both pro-tumour and anti-cancer activities are reported, including not only angiogenesis, extracellular matrix remodeling, immunosuppression, drug resistance but also phagocytosis and tumour regression. Interestingly, TAMs are highly dynamic and versatile in solid tumours. They show anti-cancer or pro-tumour activities, and interplay between the tumour microenvironment and cancer stem cells and under specific conditions. In addition to the classic M1/M2 phenotypes, a number of novel dedifferentiation phenomena of TAMs are discovered due to the advanced single-cell technology, e.g., macrophage-myofibroblast transition (MMT) and macrophage-neuron transition (MNT). More importantly, emerging information demonstrated the potential of TAMs on cancer immunotherapy, suggesting by the therapeutic efficiency of the checkpoint inhibitors and chimeric antigen receptor engineered cells based on macrophages. Here, we summarized the latest discoveries of TAMs from basic and translational research and discussed their clinical relevance and therapeutic potential for solid cancers.
肿瘤相关巨噬细胞（TAM）是肿瘤微环境的关键组成部分之一。它们在癌症免疫中的作用复杂，既有促肿瘤作用，也有抗癌活性，包括血管生成、细胞外基质重塑、免疫抑制、耐药性，还包括吞噬作用和肿瘤消退。有趣的是，TAM在实体瘤中具有高度的动态性和多功能性。它们表现出抗癌或促肿瘤活性，并在肿瘤微环境与癌症干细胞之间以及在特定条件下相互作用。除了经典的M1/M2表型外，由于先进的单细胞技术，还发现了许多TAM的新型去分化现象，例如巨噬细胞-肌成纤维细胞转变（MMT）和巨噬细胞-神经元转变（MNT）。更重要的是，新出现的信息显示了TAM在癌症免疫治疗中的潜力，基于巨噬细胞的检查点抑制剂和嵌合抗原受体工程细胞的治疗效果表明了这一点。在此，我们总结了TAM在基础研究和转化研究方面的最新发现，并讨论了它们对实体癌的临床相关性和治疗潜力。
