Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 20, 2025

Studying the Effects of Tumor-Secreted Paracrine Ligands on Macrophage Activation using Co-Culture with Permeable Membrane Supports
Published on: November 28, 2019
Transcriptional, Epigenetic and Metabolic Programming of Tumor-Associated Macrophages
Irina Larionova1,2, Elena Kazakova1, Marina Patysheva1,2
1Laboratory of Translational Cellular and Molecular Biomedicine, National Research Tomsk State University, 634050 Tomsk, Russia.
Abstract:
Macrophages are key innate immune cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) that regulate primary tumor growth, vascularization, metastatic spread and tumor response to various types of therapies. The present review highlights the mechanisms of macrophage programming in tumor microenvironments that act on the transcriptional, epigenetic and metabolic levels. We summarize the latest knowledge on the types of transcriptional factors and epigenetic enzymes that control the direction of macrophage functional polarization and their pro- and anti-tumor activities. We also focus on the major types of metabolic programs of macrophages (glycolysis and fatty acid oxidation), and their interaction with cancer cells and complex TME. We have discussed how the regulation of macrophage polarization on the transcriptional, epigenetic and metabolic levels can be used for the efficient therapeutic manipulation of macrophage functions in cancer.
Related Concept Videos
The Tumor Microenvironment
Epigenetic Regulation
X-chromosome...
Epigenetic Regulation
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression
The mTOR pathway or the...
Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells
Some of the advantages that cancer cells have on normal cells include - enhanced ability to divide without terminally differentiating, induce new blood vessel formation,...
Abnormal Proliferation

