• Effect of tumor-associated macrophages on drug resistance in cancer
  • Nayereh Abdali,1,*
    1. 1PHD student of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of advance Technologies, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran, E mail: na107abdali@yahoo.com


  • Introduction: Cancer is always one of the major public health problems around the world. Breast, lung, and colorectal cancer are among the most common cancers, and liver, lung, and stomach cancer are among the deadliest cancers. Cancer is actually a complex disease that is caused by many reasons and is a multifactorial disease. Meanwhile, the tumor microenvironment contains things that affect cancer and its process. This environment contains various cells, including macrophages, which can affect cancer and its metastasis.
  • Methods: This is a review study Collected by reviewing articles related to tumor-associated macrophages and their effect on Cancer with the keywords " tumor-associated macrophages " OR "TAMs" and "cancer" from 2020 onwards, from Google Scholar and Pubmed it has been compiled and written. 35 articles were collected, of these 7 articles were excluded because of lack of subject relevance, and only 28 studies were used. The inclusion criteria were all articles that examined the effect of tumor-associated macrophages on Cancer.
  • Results: The review of various studies showed that the interaction between TAMs and cancer stem cells occurs through IL6/STAT3, hedgehog, NF-KB, and IL10/STAT3/bcl2 signaling pathways. TAMs play a role in the release of cytokines, effect on EMT, participation in metabolic reprogramming and release of chemokines, and ultimately affect drug resistance in cancer.
  • Conclusion: TAMs are an important part of the tumor immune microenvironment and play an important role in the growth, progression, and drug resistance of cancer. Finally, it shows that TAMs can be a suitable target for reducing drug resistance in cancer, and by working on them, the effectiveness of drugs in people with cancer increased.
  • Keywords: Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), Drug-resistant, Cancer