Prognostic impact of tumor-associated macrophage infiltration in non-small cell lung cancer: A systemic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: Oncotarget Vol. 7; no. 23; pp. 34217 - 34228
• Main Authors: Mei, Jiandong, Xiao, Zhilan, Guo, Chenglin, Pu, Qiang, Ma, Lin, Liu, Chengwu, Lin, Feng, Liao, Hu, You, Zongbing, Liu, Lunxu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Impact Journals LLC 07.06.2016
• Subjects: Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - immunology; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - mortality; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - pathology; Humans; Lung Neoplasms - immunology; Lung Neoplasms - mortality; Lung Neoplasms - pathology; Macrophages - immunology; Macrophages - pathology; Prognosis; Research Paper; Tumor Microenvironment - immunology; clinicopathological characteristics; prognosis; non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs)
• ISSN: 1949-2553; 1949-2553
• DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.9079

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are important components of cancer microenvironment. In the present study, we searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library and Web of Science to perform a meta-analysis of 20 studies including a total of 2,572 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, in order to determine the association between TAMs and NSCLC prognosis. The combined hazard ratio (HR) of 9 studies showed that the density of total CD68+ TAMs in the tumor islet and stroma was not associated with overall survival (OS) of the patients. However, the pooled HR of 4 studies showed that high density of CD68+ TAMs in the tumor islet predicted better OS, while the pooled HR of 6 studies showed that high density of CD68+ TAMs in the tumor stroma was associated with poor OS. A high islet/stroma ratio of CD68+ TAMs was associated with better OS. A high density of M1 TAMs in the tumor islet was associated with better OS, while a high density of M2 TAMs in the tumor stroma predicted poor OS. These findings suggest that, although the density of total CD68+ TAMs is not associated with OS, the localization and M1/M2 polarization of TAMs are potential prognostic predictors of NSCLC.