Breast Tumor Angiogenesis and Tumor-Associated Macrophages: Histopathologist's Perspective

Abstract

Much progress has been made since the conceptualization of tumor angiogenesis—the induction of growth of new blood vessels by tumor—as a salient feature of clinically significant primary or metastatic cancers. From a practicing histopathologist's point of view, we appraise the application of this concept in breast cancer with particular reference to the evaluation of proangiogenic factors and the assessment of new microvessels in histopathological examination. Recently, much focus has also been centered on the active roles played by tumor-associated macrophages in relation to tumor angiogenesis. We review the literature; many data supporting this facet of tumor angiogenesis were derived from the breast cancer models. We scrutinize the large body of clinical evidence exploring the link between the tumor-associated macrophages and breast tumor angiogenesis and discuss particularly the methodology and limitations of incorporating such an assessment in histopathological examination.

Macrophage Quantification in Different Breast Tumor Compartments

“…Regarding human breast cancers, most of the previously published studies [19,23,24] demonstrate the main infiltrative tumor associated macrophages (TAM) role in tumor evolution and patient prognosis. Macrophage precursors are being recruited to and activated in the tumor site in breast cancer, as demonstrated by some exhaustive reviews [19,23,24].…”

“…Macrophage precursors are being recruited to and activated in the tumor site in breast cancer, as demonstrated by some exhaustive reviews [19,23,24]. Monocytes are being attracted to the tumor site by various chemokines as IL10 and TGFβ [19].…”

ecancermedicalscience

“…The change in tumour phenotype from angiostatic to angiogenic is known as the angiogenic switch, which helps tumour to escape from dormancy. Under this concept, the balance of proangiogenic and antiangiogenic factors would ultimately determine the activation status of the switch [30]. Most solid tumours are infiltrated by different cells such as tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs), monocytes, neutrophils and platelets.…”

“…Different studies evaluated VEGF and monocytes percentage separately as vascularisation markers [20, 30, 34–36]. To the best of our knowledge, we proposed herein a ratio between VEGF and monocytes percentage as a new vascularisation marker for breast cancer.…”

Microambiente imune no carcinoma papilífero de tireoide e sua relação com fatores prognósticos clínico-patológicos e sobrevida

“…Uma vez ativados, os macrófagos tornam-se a principal fonte de fatores de crescimento e citocinas, afetando sobremaneira o microambiente local Vários estudos, sobretudo em câncer de mama, evidenciam a relação positiva entre a densidade dos macrófagos associados ao tumor (TAMs) e progressão tumoral, metástases e, consequentemente, diminuição na sobrevida 33,38 . A contagem absoluta de células inequivocamente marcadas por cada reação imuno-histoquímica foi então inserida no banco de dados no caso correspondente para posterior análise numérica e estatística.…”