{"entity":{"id":"macrophage","kind":"term","name":"Macrophage","aka":["macrophages","myeloid cells","myeloid cell","monocyte","monocytes","phagocyte","phagocytes","phagocytosis"],"tldr":"Large immune cells that engulf debris, microbes and dead cells and coordinate inflammation. Tumours recruit and retrain them: tumour-associated macrophages can make up half the cells in some tumours, where they feed blood-vessel growth and suppress T cells, and cancer cells display CD47 as a 'don't eat me' signal to avoid being engulfed.","summary":"Macrophages can be pro-inflammatory and tumour-killing or tissue-repairing and immunosuppressive, and tumours push them towards the latter; tumour-associated macrophages can make up half the cells in some tumours, where they promote blood-vessel growth, suppress T cells, help cancer cells invade, and take up ADC payloads that contribute to side effects. Cancer cells display CD47, a 'don't eat me' signal, to stop macrophages engulfing them, and CD47 blockers are in trials. Efforts to reprogramme macrophages (CSF1R inhibitors, CD40 agonists, CAR-macrophages) have been harder to translate than T-cell approaches.","asOf":"2026-09-09","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrophage","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrophage"}],"tags":[],"related":["immune-system","inflammation","tumor-associated-macrophages","myeloid-derived-suppressor-cells","tumor-microenvironment","cytokine"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["car-nk-macrophage"],"targets":["cd47"],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Biology basics"},"route":"/terms/macrophage/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"cytokine","kind":"term","name":"Cytokine","route":"/terms/cytokine/"},{"id":"immune-system","kind":"term","name":"Immune system","route":"/terms/immune-system/"},{"id":"inflammation","kind":"term","name":"Inflammation","route":"/terms/inflammation/"},{"id":"microenvironment-inflammation-theory","kind":"term","name":"Microenvironment and inflammation: tumours as wounds that do not heal","route":"/terms/microenvironment-inflammation-theory/"},{"id":"myeloid-derived-suppressor-cells","kind":"term","name":"Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs)","route":"/terms/myeloid-derived-suppressor-cells/"},{"id":"tumor-associated-macrophages","kind":"term","name":"Tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs)","route":"/terms/tumor-associated-macrophages/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"tumor-microenvironment","kind":"pathway","name":"Tumour microenvironment (TME)","route":"/pathways/tumor-microenvironment/"}],"technology":[{"id":"car-nk-macrophage","kind":"technology","name":"CAR-NK & CAR-macrophage","route":"/technologies/car-nk-macrophage/"}],"target":[{"id":"cd24","kind":"target","name":"CD24","route":"/targets/cd24/"},{"id":"cd40","kind":"target","name":"CD40","route":"/targets/cd40/"},{"id":"cd47","kind":"target","name":"CD47","route":"/targets/cd47/"},{"id":"il10","kind":"target","name":"Interleukin-10 (IL10)","route":"/targets/il10/"},{"id":"siglec10","kind":"target","name":"Siglec-10","route":"/targets/siglec10/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-balkwill-mantovani-inflammation-virchow-lancet-2001","kind":"paper","name":"Balkwill and Mantovani 2001: inflammation and cancer, back to Virchow?","route":"/key-papers/paper-balkwill-mantovani-inflammation-virchow-lancet-2001/"}]}}