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Published on: April 4, 2018
The Role of Tumor-Associated Macrophages in Colorectal Carcinoma Progression
Xiaoming Zhong1,2, Bin Chen1,3, Zhiwen Yang1
1Department of Pharmacy, Songjiang Hospital Affiliated Shanghai First People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
Abstract:
Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are one of the most abundant immune cells in the tumor microenvironment, and they play a pivotal role in prompting the various tumor growth. However, the role of TAMs in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is controversial, because a few papers report that TAMs is beneficial to CRC patients. In this review, we discuss the good or bad roles of TAMs in CRC progression. Interestingly, recent studies provide strong evidence that TAMs facilitate CRC growth, but do not exert tumor suppressive activities. TAMs can stimulate CRC growth by altering extracellular matrix remodeling, tumor metabolism, angiogenesis, as well as the tumor microenvironment. Therefore, TAMs could serve as a target for CRC therapeutic treatment.
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