ArticleBreast cancer research and treatment2023
Assessing the role of tumour-associated macrophage subsets in breast cancer subtypes using digital image analysis.
Article in Breast cancer research and treatment, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multi-omic Profiling of Recurrence Risk Across Breast Cancer Subtypes.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- LifelongNutrients · 2026Article
- The Immunoregulatory Roles of ERα in Breast Cancer: Mechanisms, Crosstalk, and Therapeutic Insights.Journal of cancer prevention · 2026Review
- Emerging Approaches in Breast Cancer: From Molecular Mechanisms to Diagnosis and Therapeutic Strategies.Oncology research · 2026Review
- Roles of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes and Antitumor Immune Responses as Predictive and Prognostic Markers in Patients with Breast Cancer Receiving Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Breast Cancer and Tumor Microenvironment: The Crucial Role of Immune Cells.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2025Review
- Prognostic relevance of CD163Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII · 2025Article
- Tumor Microenvironment Modulation by Tumor-Associated Macrophages: Implications for Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Response in Breast Cancer.Breast cancer (Dove Medical Press) · 2025Article
- Elucidating Sex-Specific Immune Profiles in a Breast Cancer Model.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
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- High Numbers of CD163+ Tumor-Associated Macrophages Predict Poor Prognosis in HER2+ Breast Cancer.Cancers · 2024Article
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- Article
- Unraveling the enigma of tumor-associated macrophages: challenges, innovations, and the path to therapeutic breakthroughs.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
purposeThe number of M1-like and M2-like tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs) and their ratio can play a role in breast cancer development and progression. Early clinical trials using macrophage targeting compounds are currently ongoing. However, the most optimal detection method of M1-like and M2-like macrophage subsets and their clinical relevance in breast cancer is still unclear. We aimed to optimize the assessment of TAM subsets in different breast cancer subtypes, and therefore related TAM subset numbers and ratio to clinicopathological characteristics and clinical outcome.
methodsTissue microarrays of 347 consecutive primary Luminal-A, Luminal-B, HER2-positive and triple-negative tumours of patients with early-stage breast cancer were serially sectioned and immunohistochemically stained for the pan-macrophage marker CD68 and the M2-like macrophage markers CD163, CSF-1R and CD206. TAM numbers were quantified using a digital image analysis algorithm. M1-like macrophage numbers were calculated by subtracting M2-like TAM numbers from the total TAM number.
resultsM2-like markers CD163 and CSF-1R showed a moderate positive association with each other and with CD68 (r ≥ 0.47), but only weakly with CD206 (r ≤ 0.06). CD68 + , CD163 + and CSF-1R + macrophages correlated with tumour grade in Luminal-B tumours (P < 0.001). Total or subset TAM numbers did not correlate with disease outcome in any breast cancer subtype.
conclusionIn conclusion, macrophages and their subsets can be detected by means of a panel of TAM markers and are related to unfavourable clinicopathological characteristics in Luminal-B breast cancer. However, their impact on outcome remains unclear. Preferably, this should be determined in prospective series.
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