Incorporating Tumor-Associated Macrophages into Engineered Models of Glioma

Erin A Akins; Manish K Aghi; Sanjay Kumar

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2020.101770

Incorporating Tumor-Associated Macrophages into Engineered Models of Glioma

iScience. 2020 Nov 5;23(12):101770. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101770. eCollection 2020 Dec 18.

Authors

Erin A Akins^{1

2}, Manish K Aghi³, Sanjay Kumar^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ University of California, Berkeley - University of California, San Francisco Graduate Program in Bioengineering, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
² Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
³ Department of Neurosurgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
⁴ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

Abstract

Tumor progression is profoundly influenced by interactions between cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment (TME). Among the various non-neoplastic cells present, immune cells are critical players in tumor development and have thus emerged as attractive therapeutic targets. Malignant gliomas exhibit a unique immune landscape characterized by high numbers of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). Despite encouraging preclinical results, targeting TAMs has yielded limited clinical success as a strategy for slowing glioma progression. The slow translational progress of TAM-targeted therapies is due in part to an incomplete understanding of the factors driving TAM recruitment, differentiation, and polarization. Furthermore, the functions that TAMs adopt in gliomas remain largely unknown. Progress in addressing these gaps requires sophisticated culture platforms capable of capturing key cellular and physical TME features. This review summarizes the current understanding of TAMs in gliomas and highlights the utility of in vitro TME models for investigating TAM-cancer cell cross talk.

Keywords: Bioengineering; Cancer; Immunology.

Publication types

Review

Abstract

Publication types

Grants and funding