The role of tumor-associated macrophages in the progression, prognosis and treatment of endometrial cancer

Yihan Sun; Genyi Jiang; Qianhua Wu; Lei Ye; Bilan Li

doi:10.3389/fonc.2023.1213347

The role of tumor-associated macrophages in the progression, prognosis and treatment of endometrial cancer

Front Oncol. 2023 Sep 22:13:1213347. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1213347. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yihan Sun¹, Genyi Jiang¹, Qianhua Wu², Lei Ye¹, Bilan Li¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gynecology, Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
² School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are the main immune cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of endometrial cancer (EC). TAMs recruitment and polarization in EC is regulated by the TME of EC, culminating in a predominantly M2-like macrophage infiltration. TAMs promote lymphatic angiogenesis through cytokine secretion, aid immune escape of EC cells by synergizing with other immune cells, and contribute to the development of EC through secretion of exosomes so as to promoting EC development. EC is a hormone- and metabolism-dependent cancer, and TAMs promote EC through interactions on estrogen receptor (ER) and metabolic factors such as the metabolism of glucose, lipids, and amino acids. In addition, we have explored the predictive significance of some TAM-related indicators for EC prognosis, and TAMs show remarkable promise as a target for EC immunotherapy.

Keywords: endometrial cancer; hormones; immunotherapy; macrophage polarization; metabolism; tumor-associated macrophages.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.82172714 to LBL, No. 81602281 to LBL, No. 82372925 to LBL), Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (No.2Y11906300 and No.20ZR1443900 to LBL), Clinical Research Plan of SHDC (No. SHDC2020CR4086).