TAMing Gliomas

摘要

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) facilitate tumor growth by stimulating cancer cell proliferation, by helping cancer cells evade the immune system, and by promoting tumor angiogenesis. In human cancer patients, high levels of TAMs often correlate with poor prognosis. These cells are thus an exciting target for new cancer therapies, most of them designed to destroy TAMs. In a twist on this concept, Pyonteck et al. describe a promising therapy that works not by destroying TAMs but by "reeducating" the cells so that they lose their tumor-promoting functions and instead acquire tumor-suppressive functions.