ArticleJournal for immunotherapy of cancer2020
Short-course radiotherapy promotes pro-inflammatory macrophages via extracellular vesicles in human rectal cancer.
Article in Journal for immunotherapy of cancer, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 36 papers.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Short-Course Radiotherapy-Based Total Neoadjuvant Therapy plus Tislelizumab for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer (Neo-STAR): Early Outcomes of a Randomized Phase II Trial.Cancer communications (London, England) · 2026Trial
- Dual Immune Checkpoint Inhibition Plus Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy in Rectal Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Radiotherapy and cytokines: A systems view of immunotherapy and toxicity (Review).International journal of molecular medicine · 2026Review
- Engineering the tumor immune landscape: Translating non-invasive physical stimulation into tumor-associated macrophage-targeted cancer immunotherapy.Bioengineering & translational medicine · 2026Review
- Pre-treatment of cabozantinib prior to hypofractionated radiotherapy increases immunomodulatory effects and tumor size reduction in a 4T1 breast cancer murine model.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Therapy-induced remodeling of the tumor immune microenvironment: Mechanistic insights and implications for immunotherapy.Chinese medical journal · 2026Review
- Autologous tumor-immune effusion cocultures enable ex vivo functional profiling of radiotherapy-immunotherapy combinations.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2026Article
- Spatiotemporal dynamics of radioresistance: decoding macrophage-driven radioprotective niches through temporal-spatial reprogramming.Molecular cancer · 2026Review
- Tumor-Associated Macrophages as Therapeutic Targets: Deciphering Interaction Networks and Advancing Clinical Translation.MedComm · 2026Review
- The link between macrophage polarization and response to radiotherapy in cancers: mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Tumor-associated macrophages: potential therapeutic strategies and future prospects in radioresistance of cancer.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Roles of the phagocytosis checkpoint in radiotherapy.Cell death & disease · 2025Review
- Article
- Leveraging radiotherapy to improve immunotherapy outcomes: rationale, progress and research priorities.Clinical & translational immunology · 2025Review
- Tumor-associated macrophages within the immunological milieu: An emerging focal point for therapeutic intervention.Heliyon · 2024Review
- Integrative Approaches in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Management: The Role of Radiotherapy.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Targeting tumor‑associated macrophages: Critical players in tumor progression and therapeutic strategies (Review).International journal of oncology · 2024Review
- Radiotherapy Enhances Metastasis Through Immune Suppression by Inducing PD-L1 and MDSC in Distal Sites.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2024Article
- Multiplexed analysis of macrophage polarisation in pulmonary metastases of microsatellite stable colorectal cancer.Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII · 2024Article
- Tumor-derived extracellular vesicles regulate macrophage polarization: role and therapeutic perspectives.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTumor-associated macrophages (TAM) constitute the most abundant immune cells in the tumor stroma initiating pro-inflammatory (M1) or immunosuppressive (M2) responses depending on their polarization status. Advances in tumor immunotherapy call for a detailed understanding of potential immunogenic mechanisms of irradiation routinely applied in rectal cancer patients.
methodsTo test the effects of radiotherapy on TAM, we ex vivo irradiated tissue samples of human rectal cancer and assessed the phenotype by flow cytometry. We furthermore evaluated the distribution of leucocyte subsets in tissue sections of patients after short-course radiotherapy and compared findings to non-pretreated rectal cancer using an immunostaining approach. Organotypic assays (OTA) consisting of macrophages, cancer-associated fibroblast and cancer cell lines were used to dissect the immunological consequences of irradiation in macrophages.
resultsWe demonstrate that short-course neoadjuvant radiotherapy in rectal cancer patients is associated with a shift in the polarization of TAM towards an M1-like pro-inflammatory phenotype. In addition, ex vivo irradiation caused an increase in the phagocytic activity and enhanced expression of markers associated with stimulatory signals necessary for T-cell activation. In OTA we observed that this alteration in macrophage polarization could be mediated by extracellular vesicles (EV) derived from irradiated tumor cells. We identified high mobility group box 1 in EV from irradiated tumor cells as a potential effector signal in that crosstalk.
conclusionsOur findings highlight macrophages as potential effector cells upon irradiation in rectal cancer by diminishing their immunosuppressive phenotype and activate pro-inflammation. Our data indicate that clinically applied short-term radiotherapy for rectal cancer may be exploited to stimulate immunogenic macrophages and suggest to target the polarization status of macrophages to enhance future immunotherapeutic strategies.
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