High Infiltration of Polarized CD163 + Tumor-Associated Macrophages Correlates with Aberrant Expressions of CSCs Markers, and Predicts Prognosis in Patients with Recurrent Gastric Cancer

作者：Weijie Zhang, Zhi-Hua Zhou, Ming Guo, Liuqing Yang, Yuanyuan Xu, Taohong Pang, Shanting Gao, Xinyun Xu, Qi Sun, Min Feng, Hao Wang, Chun-lei Lu, Guozhong Wu, Wenxian Guan, Guifang Xu · 发表于：Journal of Cancer · 年份：2017 · DOI：10.7150/jca.16730 · 被引用次数：31 · 研究领域：Immune cells in cancer、Epigenetics and DNA Methylation、Cancer Cells and Metastasis

Background: As the most predominant tumor-infiltrating immune cells, tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are associated with poor outcome in multiple solid cancers and play important roles in cancer progression. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) may account for metastasis and recurrence after cancer therapy. However, the association between TAMs and CSCs is not clarified in gastric cancer (GC). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of TAMs on CSCs in GC and find out the risk factors to predict recurrence and prognosis. Material and methods: This study included consecutive 236 patients with histologically confirmed primary GC. TAMs marker CD163 and CSCs-related proteins were detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in GC tissues and their prognostic values were all investigated. Results: High expression of CD163 + TAMs was found in patents with aggressive characteristics, especially for patents with recurrence. There existed a significant correlation between high expression of CD163 and CSCs-related markers in GC tissues. In patients with recurrence, high-expression of CD163 TAMs was an independent worse prognostic factor. Conclusion: High infiltration of TAMs was related to aggressive behavior, associated with aberrant expression of CSC markers, and an independent worse prognostic factor in GC.