ArticleNature cell biology2023
Microglia promote anti-tumour immunity and suppress breast cancer brain metastasis.
Article in Nature cell biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers.
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
46 citing papers in PubMed, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Research on tissue-resident macrophages in the field of cancer research: a bibliometric analysis from 2004 to 2025.Cell adhesion & migration · 2026Review
- Neuro-immune crosstalk in lung cancer brain metastasis: mechanisms, therapeutic targets, and translational opportunities.Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2026Review
- Breast cancer brain metastasis: Emerging therapeutic strategies and challenges.Chinese medical journal · 2026Article
- Tumor-Associated Macrophages (TAMs) in Cancer: Functional Programs, Metastatic Mechanisms, and Therapeutic Targeting.Cancers · 2026Review
- Hypoxia or tobacco-smoke exposure induce region-specific microvascular remodeling in the brain.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- EBV Triggers a Distinct Antiviral Response in HMC3 Cells.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Targeting the neuro-immune crosstalk in breast cancer brain metastases.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2026Review
- Characterization, immune cell phenotyping and differential gene expression analysis of brain metastases and primary breast cancer samples.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Microglia Display Heterogeneous Initial Responses to Disseminated Tumor Cells.Cancer research · 2026Article
- Unraveling the Enigma of Melanoma Brain Metastasis: New Molecular Insights and Therapeutic Directions.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Breast Cancer Brain Metastases: Current Understanding and Future Directions.Current oncology reports · 2026Review
- Neuro-Immune Crosstalk: Molecular Mechanisms, Biological Functions, Diseases, and Therapeutic Targets.MedComm · 2026Review
- Microglial TBK1 Signaling Promotes Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis.Cancer research · 2026Article
- Clinical and hematological factors associated with neurological involvement in spinal tuberculosis: a retrospective study.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- Astrocytes and Microglia Regulate Opioid Receptor-Driven Cancer Brain Metastasis and Neural Injury: Remodeling the Brain Microenvironment.Journal of inflammation research · 2026Article
- Crosstalk in the brain tumor microenvironment: mechanisms, therapeutic strategies, and clinical advances.Military Medical Research · 2026Review
- Neurooncology: 2026 update.Free neuropathology · 2026Review
- Decoding the mechanisms underlying breast cancer brain metastasis: paving the way for precision therapeutics.Biomarker research · 2025Review
- Microglia limit brain tumor development by restricting tumor cell proliferation and inducing T-cell immunity.Molecular oncology · 2025Article
- Macrophage TBK1 signaling drives the development and outgrowth of breast cancer brain metastasis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
18 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Breast cancer brain metastasis (BCBM) is a lethal disease with no effective treatments. Prior work has shown that brain cancers and metastases are densely infiltrated with anti-inflammatory, protumourigenic tumour-associated macrophages, but the role of brain-resident microglia remains controversial because they are challenging to discriminate from other tumour-associated macrophages. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, genetic and humanized mouse models, we specifically identify microglia and find that they play a distinct pro-inflammatory and tumour-suppressive role in BCBM. Animals lacking microglia show increased metastasis, decreased survival and reduced natural killer and T cell responses, showing that microglia are critical to promote anti-tumour immunity to suppress BCBM. We find that the pro-inflammatory response is conserved in human microglia, and markers of their response are associated with better prognosis in patients with BCBM. These findings establish an important role for microglia in anti-tumour immunity and highlight them as a potential immunotherapy target for brain metastasis.
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.