Macrophages engulf microbes and cellular debris to protect us from disease and help repair wounded tissues. In cancer, they also infiltrate the tumor, but studies in humans and mice now uncover more sinister roles for these immune cells in cancer. In 'Bedside to Bench', Christiana Ruhrberg and Michele De Palma scrutinize a clinical study where the presence of macrophages correlates with a high risk of disease progression in people with Hodgkin's lymphoma, indicating a clinical value of macrophages as biomarkers of survival. The authors also emphasize how characterizing of the mechanisms by which subpopulations of macrophages promote tumor cell motility and angiogenesis might help in the development of antiangiogenic therapies to stop tumor progression. In 'Bench to Bedside', Joseph Qualls and Peter Murray examine a study that shows how stopping migration of macrophages into the tumor can impair tumor regrowth after radiation treatment.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Effect of ω-3 and ω-9 fatty acid rich oils on lipoxygenases and cyclooxygenases enzymes and on the growth of a mammary adenocarcinoma model
Lipids in Health and Disease Open Access 08 October 2010
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Katie Vicari
References
Qian, B.Z. & Pollard, J.W. Cell 141, 39–51 (2010).
Mantovani, A. & Sica, A. Curr. Opin. Immunol. 22, 231–237 (2010).
Steidl, C. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 362, 875–885 (2010).
Balkwill, F. & Mantovani, A. Lancet 357, 539–545 (2001).
Vacca, A. et al. Br. J. Cancer 79, 965–970 (1999).
Birgersdotter, A. et al. Br. J. Cancer 101, 1393–1401 (2009).
Nakayama, Y. et al. Anticancer Res. 22, 4291–4296 (2002).
Kim, D.W. et al. Br. J. Cancer 98, 1118–1124 (2008).
Coffelt, S.B. et al. Am. J. Pathol. 176, 1564–1576 (2010).
Qian, B. et al. PLoS ONE 4, e6562 (2009).
De Palma, M. et al. Cancer Cell 8, 211–226 (2005).
Pucci, F. et al. Blood 114, 901–914 (2009).
Fantin, A. et al. Blood published online, doi: 10.1182/blood-2009-12-257832 (19 April 2010).
Ojalvo, L.S., King, W., Cox, D. & Pollard, J.W. Am. J. Pathol. 174, 1048–1064 (2009).
Kioi, M. et al. J. Clin. Invest. 120, 694–705 (2010).
Venneri, M.A. et al. Blood 109, 5276–5285 (2007).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ruhrberg, C., De Palma, M. A double agent in cancer: Deciphering macrophage roles in human tumors. Nat Med 16, 861–862 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0810-861
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0810-861
This article is cited by
-
Monocytes deposit migrasomes to promote embryonic angiogenesis
Nature Cell Biology (2022)
-
Ultrasmall nanoparticles induce ferroptosis in nutrient-deprived cancer cells and suppress tumour growth
Nature Nanotechnology (2016)
-
Increased metabolites of 5-lipoxygenase from hypoxic ovarian cancer cells promote tumor-associated macrophage infiltration
Oncogene (2015)
-
The Role of Bone Marrow-Derived Cells During the Bone Healing Process in the GFP Mouse Bone Marrow Transplantation Model
Calcified Tissue International (2013)
-
Tumor angiogenesis: molecular pathways and therapeutic targets
Nature Medicine (2011)
