Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) play crucial roles in development and progression of malignant diseases. Notably, CD163+ TAMs likely perform specific pro-tumorigenic functions, suggesting that this subset may serve as both prognostic biomarkers and targets for future anti-cancer therapy. We conducted a scoping review to map the current knowledge on the prognostic role of CD163+ TAMs in the five most lethal cancers worldwide: Lung, colorectal, gastric, liver, and breast cancer. For all cancer types, most studies showed that high tumoral presence of CD163+ cells was associated with poor patient outcome, and this association was more frequently observed when CD163+ cells were measured at the tumor periphery compared to more central parts of the tumor. These results support that CD163+ TAMs represent a biomarker of poor patient outcome across a variety of solid tumors, and highlight the relevance of further investigations of CD163+ TAMs as targets of future immunotherapies.
Keywords: CD163; Cancer; Patient prognosis; Solid tumor malignancy; Targeted immunotherapy; Tumor-associated macrophage.
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