Cytostatic cancer therapy modulates monocyte-macrophage cell functions: how it impacts on treatment outcomes

Macrophages are important effectors of innate immunity and the key component of the tumor microenvironment strongly influencing cancer disease outcome and efficiency of cancer therapy. Moreover, recent data have shown that monocytes as macrophage precursors can impact on tumor ability to progression. It's well known that although tumor-associated macrophages consist of diverse populations, in general, they have tumor-supporting activity. To change tumor-supporting state of tumor-associated macrophages toward tumor-inhibiting mode is one of prospective aims of modern cancer immunotherapy. Cytostatics seems to be possible tools to achieve this aim, because recently it has been shown that chemo- and radiotherapy possess immunomodulatory effects. Most of the findings are related to lymphocytes - T-lymphocytes and NK-cells, but not to monocyte/macrophage lineage. In the review, we have analyzed how cytostatic drugs influence the properties of monocyte/macrophage lineage cells to prospect using of chemotherapy to enhance their antitumor activity.