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REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Molecular Targets and Therapeutics
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1547484
This article is part of the Research Topic Novel Molecular Targets in Cancer Therapy View all 13 articles
Profiles of surface markers and chemokines of tumor-associated macrophages in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: A comprehensive review
Provisionally accepted- 1 Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
- 2 First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China
Esophageal cancer is among the most lethal cancers globally and is primarily categorized into two main pathological subtypes: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Of these, ESCC is the more prevalent type. However, most ESCC patients exhibit a poor response to existing treatment options. In recent years, the tumor microenvironment (TME) and its associated molecules have emerged as a focal point of research in the field of malignant tumors. The immune components of the ESCC TME are mainly composed of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), which include M1 and M2 types, with M1 playing a role in inhibiting tumors and M2 promoting tumor growth. The surface markers associated with TAMs hold significant potential as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. Additionally, chemokines produced by TAMs or tumor cells play a crucial role in promoting tumor growth and metastasis. Nevertheless, the role of TAMs in ESCC remains unclear to this day. In this review, we focus primarily on the role of TAM surface markers and chemokines in the TME, and describe the role of TAMs in ESCC by comparing their behavior in other squamous cell carcinomas. This will help enhance the understanding of the TME in ESCC, holding great potential to overcome the current stagnation in improving prognosis through ESCC treatment.
Keywords: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, Tumor-associated macrophages, Tumor Microenvironment, surface markers, chemokine
Received: 18 Dec 2024; Accepted: 03 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Liu and Zhao. 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:
Zhihua Zhao, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan Province, China
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