scholarly journals Tumor-Associated Macrophages in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Pathogenesis, Prognosis and Therapy

Cancers ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 226
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Arvanitakis ◽  
Triantafyllia Koletsa ◽  
Ioannis Mitroulis ◽  
Georgios Germanidis

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) constitutes a major health burden globally, and it is caused by intrinsic genetic mutations acting in concert with a multitude of epigenetic and extrinsic risk factors. Cancer induces myelopoiesis in the bone marrow, as well as the mobilization of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, which reside in the spleen. Monocytes produced in the bone marrow and the spleen further infiltrate tumors, where they differentiate into tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). The relationship between chronic inflammation and hepatocarcinogenesis has been thoroughly investigated over the past decade; however, several aspects of the role of TAMs in HCC development are yet to be determined. In response to certain stimuli and signaling, monocytes differentiate into macrophages with antitumor properties, which are classified as M1-like. On the other hand, under different stimuli and signaling, the polarization of macrophages shifts towards an M2-like phenotype with a tumor promoting capacity. M2-like macrophages drive tumor growth both directly and indirectly, via the suppression of cytotoxic cell populations, including CD8+ T cells and NK cells. The tumor microenvironment affects the response to immunotherapies. Therefore, an enhanced understanding of its immunobiology is essential for the development of next-generation immunotherapies. The utilization of various monocyte-centered anticancer treatment modalities has been under clinical investigation, selectively targeting and modulating the processes of monocyte recruitment, activation and migration. This review summarizes the current evidence on the role of TAMs in HCC pathogenesis and progression, as well as in their potential involvement in tumor therapy, shedding light on emerging anticancer treatment methods targeting monocytes.

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2899
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Arvanitakis ◽  
Ioannis Mitroulis ◽  
Georgios Germanidis

Hepatocellular carcinoma represents the most prevalent primary liver cancer worldwide, and it is either caused by intrinsic genetic mutations or by a multitude of extrinsic risk factors. Even though the interplay between chronic inflammatory changes and hepatocarcinogenesis has been at the forefront of clinical investigation for the past few decades, the role of tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs) in HCC development still remains ambiguous. On the one hand, N1 TANs exhibit an anti-tumorigenic activity, mediated by direct or indirect tumor cell lysis, whereas on the other hand, N2 TANs have been correlated with increased HCC growth, invasiveness, and metastasis. The association of an elevated Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) with poor prognosis in patients with HCC, has been recently brought into spotlight, consolidating its widespread use as a reliable biomarker. Due to the decisive involvement of TANs in HCC pathogenesis and development, the utilization of various neutrophil-centered anticancer treatment modalities has been under clinical experimentation, selectively targeting and modulating the processes of neutrophil recruitment, activation, and migration. This review summarizes current evidence on the role of TANs in HCC pathogenesis and progression, as well as in their potential involvement in tumor therapy, shedding light on emerging anticancer treatment methods targeting neutrophils.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney B. Johnson ◽  
Jizhou Zhang ◽  
Daniel Lucas

Hematopoiesis in the bone marrow (BM) is the primary source of immune cells. Hematopoiesis is regulated by a diverse cellular microenvironment that supports stepwise differentiation of multipotent stem cells and progenitors into mature blood cells. Blood cell production is not static and the bone marrow has evolved to sense and respond to infection by rapidly generating immune cells that are quickly released into the circulation to replenish those that are consumed in the periphery. Unfortunately, infection also has deleterious effects injuring hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), inefficient hematopoiesis, and remodeling and destruction of the microenvironment. Despite its central role in immunity, the role of the microenvironment in the response to infection has not been systematically investigated. Here we summarize the key experimental evidence demonstrating a critical role of the bone marrow microenvironment in orchestrating the bone marrow response to infection and discuss areas of future research.


2012 ◽  
Vol 209 (3) ◽  
pp. 537-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Mansour ◽  
Grazia Abou-Ezzi ◽  
Ewa Sitnicka ◽  
Sten Eirik W. Jacobsen ◽  
Abdelilah Wakkach ◽  
...  

Formation of the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niche in bone marrow (BM) is tightly associated with endochondral ossification, but little is known about the mechanisms involved. We used the oc/oc mouse, a mouse model with impaired endochondral ossification caused by a loss of osteoclast (OCL) activity, to investigate the role of osteoblasts (OBLs) and OCLs in the HSC niche formation. The absence of OCL activity resulted in a defective HSC niche associated with an increased proportion of mesenchymal progenitors but reduced osteoblastic differentiation, leading to impaired HSC homing to the BM. Restoration of OCL activity reversed the defect in HSC niche formation. Our data demonstrate that OBLs are required for establishing HSC niches and that osteoblastic development is induced by OCLs. These findings broaden our knowledge of the HSC niche formation, which is critical for understanding normal and pathological hematopoiesis.


Blood ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 133 (3) ◽  
pp. 224-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrés García-García ◽  
Claudia Korn ◽  
María García-Fernández ◽  
Olivia Domingues ◽  
Javier Villadiego ◽  
...  

AbstractHematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and leukocytes circulate between the bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood following circadian oscillations. Autonomic sympathetic noradrenergic signals have been shown to regulate HSPC and leukocyte trafficking, but the role of the cholinergic branch has remained unexplored. We have investigated the role of the cholinergic nervous system in the regulation of day/night traffic of HSPCs and leukocytes in mice. We show here that the autonomic cholinergic nervous system (including parasympathetic and sympathetic) dually regulates daily migration of HSPCs and leukocytes. At night, central parasympathetic cholinergic signals dampen sympathetic noradrenergic tone and decrease BM egress of HSPCs and leukocytes. However, during the daytime, derepressed sympathetic noradrenergic activity causes predominant BM egress of HSPCs and leukocytes via β3–adrenergic receptor. This egress is locally supported by light-triggered sympathetic cholinergic activity, which inhibits BM vascular cell adhesion and homing. In summary, central (parasympathetic) and local (sympathetic) cholinergic signals regulate day/night oscillations of circulating HSPCs and leukocytes. This study shows how both branches of the autonomic nervous system cooperate to orchestrate daily traffic of HSPCs and leukocytes.


2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 1099-1110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iordanis Pelagiadis ◽  
Eftichia Stiakaki ◽  
Christianna Choulaki ◽  
Maria Kalmanti ◽  
Helen Dimitriou

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Patrick Wuchter ◽  
Anke Diehlmann ◽  
Harald Klüter

<b><i>Background:</i></b> The stem cell niche in human bone marrow provides scaffolds, cellular frameworks and essential soluble cues to support the stemness of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). To decipher this complex structure and the corresponding cellular interactions, a number of in vitro model systems have been developed. The cellular microenvironment is of key importance, and mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) represent one of the major cellular determinants of the niche. Regulation of the self-renewal and differentiation of HSPCs requires not only direct cellular contact and adhesion molecules, but also various cytokines and chemokines. The C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4/stromal cell-derived factor 1 axis plays a pivotal role in stem cell mobilization and homing. As we have learned in recent years, to realistically simulate the physiological in vivo situation, advanced model systems should be based on niche cells arranged in a three-dimensional (3D) structure. By providing a dynamic rather than static setup, microbioreactor systems offer a number of advantages. In addition, the role of low oxygen tension in the niche microenvironment and its impact on hematopoietic stem cells need to be taken into account and are discussed in this review. <b><i>Summary:</i></b> This review focuses on the role of MSCs as a part of the bone marrow niche, the interplay between MSCs and HSPCs and the most important regulatory factors that need to be considered when engineering artificial hematopoietic stem cell niche systems. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Advanced 3D model systems using MSCs as niche cells and applying microbioreactor-based technology are capable of simulating the natural properties of the bone marrow niche more closely than ever before.


Author(s):  
Laura Mosteo ◽  
Joanna Storer ◽  
Kiran Batta ◽  
Emma J. Searle ◽  
Delfim Duarte ◽  
...  

Hematopoietic stem cells interact with bone marrow niches, including highly specialized blood vessels. Recent studies have revealed the phenotypic and functional heterogeneity of bone marrow endothelial cells. This has facilitated the analysis of the vascular microenvironment in steady state and malignant hematopoiesis. In this review, we provide an overview of the bone marrow microenvironment, focusing on refined analyses of the marrow vascular compartment performed in mouse studies. We also discuss the emerging role of the vascular niche in “inflamm-aging” and clonal hematopoiesis, and how the endothelial microenvironment influences, supports and interacts with hematopoietic cells in acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes, as exemplar states of malignant myelopoiesis. Finally, we provide an overview of strategies for modulating these bidirectional interactions to therapeutic effect in myeloid malignancies.


Cancers ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwei-Yan Liu ◽  
Li-Ting Wang ◽  
Shih-Hsien Hsu

Cells respond to various environmental factors such as nutrients, food intake, and drugs or toxins by undergoing dynamic epigenetic changes. An imbalance in dynamic epigenetic changes is one of the major causes of disease, oncogenic activities, and immunosuppressive effects. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a unique cellular chemical sensor present in most organs, and its dysregulation has been demonstrated in multiple stages of tumor progression in humans and experimental models; however, the effects of the pathogenic mechanisms of AHR on epigenetic regulation remain unclear. Apart from proto-oncogene activation, epigenetic repressions of tumor suppressor genes are involved in tumor initiation, procession, and metastasis. Reverse epigenetic repression of the tumor suppressor genes by epigenetic enzyme activity inhibition and epigenetic enzyme level manipulation is a potential path for tumor therapy. Current evidence and our recent work on deacetylation of histones on tumor-suppressive genes suggest that histone deacetylase (HDAC) is involved in tumor formation and progression, and treating hepatocellular carcinoma with HDAC inhibitors can, at least partially, repress tumor proliferation and transformation by recusing the expression of tumor-suppressive genes such as TP53 and RB1.


2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanqing Gong ◽  
Jane Hoover-Plow ◽  
Ying Li

Ischemic heart disease, including myocardial infarction (MI), is the primary cause of death throughout the US. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is used to mobilize hematopoietic progenitor and stem cells (HPSC) to improve cardiac recovery after MI. However, poor-mobilization to G-CSF is observed in 25% of patients and 10-20% of healthy donors. Therefore, a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms regulating G-CSF-induced cardiac repair may offer novel approaches for strengthening stem cell-mediated therapeutics. Our previous studies have identified an essential role of Plg in HPSC mobilization from bone marrow (BM) in response to G-CSF. Here, we investigate the role of Plg in G-CSF-stimulated cardiac repair after MI. Our data show that G-CSF significantly improves cardiac tissue repair including increasing neovascularization in the infarct area, and improving ejection fraction and LV internal diameter by echocardiogram in wild-type mice. No improvement in tissue repair and heart function by G-CSF is observed in Plg -/- mice, indicating that Plg is required for G-CSF-regulated cardiac repair after MI. To investigate whether Plg regulates HPSC recruitment to ischemia area, bone marrow transplantion (BMT) with EGFP-expressing BM cells was performed to visualize BM-derived stem cells in infarcted tissue. Our data show that G-CSF dramatically increases recruitment of GFP+ cells (by 16 fold) in WT mice but not in Plg -/- mice, suggesting that Plg is essential for HPSC recruitment from BM to the lesion sites after MI. In further studies, we investigated the role of Plg in the regulation of SDF-1/CXCR-4 axis, a major regulator for HPSC recruitment. Our results show that G-CSF significantly increases CXCR-4 expression in infarcted area in WT mice. While G-CSF-induced CXCR-4 expression is markedly decreased (80%) in Plg -/- mice, suggesting Plg may regulate CXCR-4 expression during HSPC recruitment to injured heart. Interestingly, Plg does not affect SDF-1 expression in response to G-CSF treatment. Taken together, our findings have identified a critical role of Plg in HSPC recruitment to the lesion site and subsequent tissue repair after MI. Thus, targeting Plg may offer a new therapeutic strategy to improve G-CSF-mediated cardiac repair after MI.


Blood ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 864-869 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Magni ◽  
Massimo Di Nicola ◽  
Liliana Devizzi ◽  
Paola Matteucci ◽  
Fabrizio Lombardi ◽  
...  

Abstract Elimination of tumor cells (“purging”) from hematopoietic stem cell products is a major goal of bone marrow–supported high-dose cancer chemotherapy. We developed an in vivo purging method capable of providing tumor-free stem cell products from most patients with mantle cell or follicular lymphoma and bone marrow involvement. In a prospective study, 15 patients with CD20+ mantle cell or follicular lymphoma, bone marrow involvement, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)–detectable molecular rearrangement received 2 cycles of intensive chemotherapy, each of which was followed by infusion of a growth factor and 2 doses of the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody rituximab. The role of rituximab was established by comparison with 10 control patients prospectively treated with an identical chemotherapy regimen but no rituximab. The CD34+ cells harvested from the patients who received both chemotherapy and rituximab were PCR-negative in 93% of cases (versus 40% of controls;P = .007). Aside from providing PCR-negative harvests, the chemoimmunotherapy treatment produced complete clinical and molecular remission in all 14 evaluable patients, including all 6 with mantle cell lymphoma (versus 70% of controls). In vivo purging of hematopoietic progenitor cells can be successfully accomplished in most patients with CD20+ lymphoma, including mantle cell lymphoma. The results depended on the activity of both chemotherapy and rituximab infusion and provide the proof of principle that in vivo purging is feasible and possibly superior to currently available ex vivo techniques. The high short-term complete-response rate observed suggests the presence of a more-than-additive antilymphoma effect of the chemoimmunotherapy combination used.


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