Tumour cells are thought to avoid being phagocytosed through expression of the 'self' marker CD47, which ligates the macrophage receptor SIRPα. Alvey et al. investigated the potential of SIRPα-inhibited bone marrow-derived macrophages, primed with tumour-targeting antibodies, to clear tumours in vivo. Systemic injection of these macrophages into tumour-bearing mice increased engulfment of tumour cells compared with host tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs), and tumours regressed. However, anti-tumour effects were limited as donor macrophages eventually underwent mechanosensitive-mediated differentiation into non-phagocytic, high-SIRPα TAMs.
References
Alvey, C. M. et al. SIRPA-inhibited, marrow-derived macrophages engorge, accumulate, and differentiate in antibody-targeted regression of solid tumors. Curr. Biol. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.005 (2017)
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Dart, A. Feeding frenzy. Nat Rev Cancer 17, 453 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc.2017.65
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc.2017.65