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Tumor Biology
Published in: Tumor Biology 12/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Review

Functional significance of macrophages in pancreatic cancer biology

Authors: Hai Hu, Feng Jiao, Ting Han, Li-Wei Wang

Published in: Tumor Biology | Issue 12/2015

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Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is a lethal disease that is usually diagnosed at late stage with few effective therapies. Despite the rapid progress on the genomics and proteomics of the neoplastic cells, therapies that targeted the pancreatic cancer cells proved to be inefficient, which promoted the researchers to turn their attentions to the microenvironment. Currently, various studies had proposed the microenvironment to be a contributing factor for PDA and pervasive researches showed that macrophages within the malignancy correlate with the malignant phenotype of the disease and were reported to a new therapeutic target. Generally, the pro-tumoral effects of macrophages can be summarized as angiogenesis promotion, immunosuppression, matrix remodeling and so on. Hence, a comprehensive understanding of the biologic behaviors of macrophages and their critical role in PDA development may provide new directions for the managements of the lethal disease. In this review, we will summarize the recent advancements on macrophages as pivotal players in PDA biology and the current knowledge about anti-macrophages as a novel strategy against cancer, with the expectation that more efficient therapies will be developed in the near future.
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Metadata
Title
Functional significance of macrophages in pancreatic cancer biology
Authors
Hai Hu
Feng Jiao
Ting Han
Li-Wei Wang
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Tumor Biology / Issue 12/2015
Print ISSN: 1010-4283
Electronic ISSN: 1423-0380
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-4127-2

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