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REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1476565
This article is part of the Research Topic The Role of Macrophages in Tumor Initiation, Metastasis, and Cancer Prevention View all 9 articles

Mechanistic Studies of Tumor-Associated Macrophage Immunotherapy

Provisionally accepted
Jiandong Cao Jiandong Cao 1Chengsen Liu Chengsen Liu 2*
  • 1 Shenyang Chest Hospital, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China
  • 2 The People's Hospital of Liaoning Province, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are present in the tumor microenvironment and can polarize into subtypes with different functions and characteristics in response to different stimuli, classifying them into anti-tumorigenic M1-type and pro-tumorigenic M2-type. The M1-type macrophages inhibit tumor growth through the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, whereas the M2-type macrophages contribute to tumor progression through the promotion of tumor proliferation, angiogenesis and metastasis. Due to the duality of macrophage effects on tumors, TAMs have been a hot topic in tumor research. In this paper, the heterogeneity and plasticity of TAMs, the interactions between TAMs and other immune cells, and the effects of TAMs on tumors are reviewed, and the therapeutic strategies for TAMs are summarized and discussed. These therapeutic strategies encompass methods and approaches to inhibit the recruitment of TAMs, deplete TAMs, and modulate the polarization of TAMs. These studies help to deeply understand the mechanism of TAMs-tumor interaction and provide reference for combination therapy of tumors.

    Keywords: Tumor-associated macrophages, TAMs, Tumor Microenvironment, Immunotherapy, Cancer

    Received: 06 Aug 2024; Accepted: 13 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cao and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Chengsen Liu, The People's Hospital of Liaoning Province, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.