ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2015
Macrophages eat cancer cells using their own calreticulin as a guide: roles of TLR and Btk.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 165 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
165 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 257 citations in OpenAlex.
- Macrophage-associated kinase signaling in atherosclerosis - a systematic review.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Pooled it
- Acalabrutinib monotherapy in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who are intolerant to ibrutinib.Blood advances · 2019Trial
- A chemical-genetic system for calreticulin exposure on cancer cells reveals immune-dependent antitumor effects.Cell death and differentiation · 2026Article
- Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors: Mechanisms, Efficacy, Toxicities and Applications for the Treatment of Human Diseases.MedComm · 2026Review
- Peptide Loading Complex in Cancer: From Peptide Translocation, Editing, and Loading into MHC-I to a Potential Therapeutic Target.Current medical science · 2026Review
- Myeloid compartment reprogramming through nanoparticle-delivered resiquimod blocks paracrine growth support and activates phagocytosis to slow tumor progression in endogenous mouse medulloblastoma and diffuse midline glioma models.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The double-edged sword role of tumor-associated macrophages: preventing or causing resistance to immunotherapy.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2026Review
- A logic-gated trispecific engager enhances macrophage killing of cancer cells in solid tumors.Nature biotechnology · 2026Article
- Targeting phagocytosis checkpoints for cancer immunotherapy.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2026Review
- Repurposing Cardiac Glycosides to Potentiate CD47 Blockade through Calreticulin-mediated Phagocytic Effects for Lung Cancer Treatment.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- How macrophages use extracellular calreticulin to chase their prey.Oncoimmunology · 2025Article
- Challenges in the Evolving Role of Calreticulin as a Promising Target for Precision Medicine in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms.Cancers · 2025Review
- Macrophages: sentinels, warriors, and healers.Human molecular genetics · 2025Review
- Article
- Cyst fluid proteins stratify malignant risk of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm of the pancreas.Cancer letters · 2025Article
- Macrophages release neuraminidase and cleaved calreticulin for programmed cell removal.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Metal-based immunogenic cell death inducers for cancer immunotherapy.Chemical science · 2025Review
- SMAC mimetics induce human macrophages to phagocytose live cancer cells.Immunotherapy advances · 2025Article
- A CD47 antibody with minimized erythrocyte and thrombocyte toxicities.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
- Phosphoproteomic Profiling Reveals mTOR Signaling in Sustaining Macrophage Phagocytosis of Cancer Cells.Cancers · 2024Article
105 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Macrophage-mediated programmed cell removal (PrCR) is an important mechanism of eliminating diseased and damaged cells before programmed cell death. The induction of PrCR by eat-me signals on tumor cells is countered by don't-eat-me signals such as CD47, which binds macrophage signal-regulatory protein α to inhibit phagocytosis. Blockade of CD47 on tumor cells leads to phagocytosis by macrophages. Here we demonstrate that the activation of Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling pathways in macrophages synergizes with blocking CD47 on tumor cells to enhance PrCR. Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk) mediates TLR signaling in macrophages. Calreticulin, previously shown to be an eat-me signal on cancer cells, is activated in macrophages for secretion and cell-surface exposure by TLR and Btk to target cancer cells for phagocytosis, even if the cancer cells themselves do not express calreticulin.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.