ReviewNature reviews. Drug discovery2018
Targeting macrophages: therapeutic approaches in cancer.
Review in Nature reviews. Drug discovery, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1,234 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1,234 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 2,041 citations in OpenAlex.
- From mechanism to therapy: advances in macrophage polarisation and targeted intervention in osteosarcoma.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- Metabolic regulation and immunosuppressive functions of lipid-associated macrophages in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- PI3Kγ inhibition drives M1 macrophage differentiation and synergizes with PD-L1 blockade to improve survival in poorly immunogenic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.Cancer biology & therapy · 2026Article
- Targeting myeloid cell plasticity and metabolic reprogramming to alleviate T cell dysfunction and exhaustion-associated states and enhance immune checkpoint blockade therapy.Biomarker research · 2026Review
- Targeting the Tumor Microenvironment Network to Overcome Immunotherapy Resistance in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Mechanisms to Clinical Translation.Cancer medicine · 2026Review
- Magnetically Guided Macrophage Immunobots Coordinate Iron-Metabolic Cascades and Immunogenic Ferroptosis for Tumor Immunotherapy.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- From signals to phenotype: multifactorial drivers of tumor-associated macrophage polarization in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma: a narrative review.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2026Review
- Granzyme B PET Imaging Reveals LgmnAdvanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Secreted protein circuits in the gastrointestinal tumour microenvironment: determinants of immunotherapy response and resistance.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- A pancreatic cancer organoid-macrophage co-culture using starPEG-heparin hydrogel deciphers tumor-immune cell interactions.NPJ precision oncology · 2026Article
- Article
- NIR-II conjugated polymers for tumor sonodynamic therapy.Discover nano · 2026Review
- Targeting PID1 generates oxysterols to switch macrophage cell fates for improved antitumor immunity.Nature cancer · 2026Article
- Photothermal-driven sequential immunotherapy overcomes resistance to PARP inhibition inActa pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2026Article
- Chimeric antigen receptor-macrophages: A new paradigm for cell therapy.Bioengineering & translational medicine · 2026Review
- UTMD Suppresses CSF-1 to Drive Macrophage-Mediated Ferroptosis in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.Cancer medicine · 2026Article
- Cancer cell-selective ectopic expression of CD20 as an antigen enables rituximab repurposing for solid tumour immunotherapy.Clinical and translational medicine · 2026Article
- Innovative immunotherapeutic strategies for thyroid cancer: challenges and opportunities.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2026Review
- Lipid metabolic reprogramming of tumor-associated macrophages drives resistance to immune checkpoint blockade in lung cancer: a narrative review of mechanisms and therapeutic strategies.Translational lung cancer research · 2026Review
- Article
1,174 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
2 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Infiltration of macrophages in solid tumours is associated with poor prognosis and correlates with chemotherapy resistance in most cancers. In mouse models of cancer, macrophages promote cancer initiation and malignant progression by stimulating angiogenesis, increasing tumour cell migration, invasion and intravasation and suppressing antitumour immunity. At metastatic sites, macrophages promote tumour cell extravasation, survival and subsequent growth. Each of these pro-tumoural activities is promoted by a subpopulation of macrophages that express canonical markers but have unique transcriptional profiles, which makes tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs) good targets for anticancer therapy in humans through either their ablation or their re-differentiation away from pro-tumoural towards antitumoural states. In this Review, we evaluate the state of the art of TAM-targeting strategies, focusing on the limitations and potential side effects of the different therapies such as toxicity, rebound effects and compensatory mechanisms. We provide an extensive overview of the different types of therapy used in the clinic and their limitations in light of known macrophage biology and propose new strategies for targeting TAMs.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.