Pancreatic cancer is associated with aberrant monocyte function and successive differentiation into macrophages with inferior anti-tumour characteristics

摘要

Background/objectives: Inflammation is related to the development and progression of pancreatic cancer (PC). Locally, anti-inflammatory macrophages (M2), and systemically, high levels of certain inflammation-modulating cytokines associate with poor prognosis in PC. The detailed effects of systemic inflammation on circulating monocytes and macrophage polarisation remain unknown. We aimed to find out how intracellular signalling of peripheral blood monocytes is affected by the systemic inflammatory state in PC patients and how it affects their differentiation into macrophages.