Chemotherapy Enriches for Proinflammatory Macrophage Phenotypes that Support Cancer Stem-Like Cells and Disease Progression in Ovarian Cancer.

ABSTRACT: High-grade serous ovarian cancer remains a poorly understood disease with a high mortality rate. Although most patients respond to cytotoxic therapies, a majority will experience recurrence. This may be due to a minority of drug-resistant cancer stem-like cells (CSC) that survive chemotherapy and are capable of repopulating heterogeneous tumors. It remains unclear how CSCs are supported in the tumor microenvironment (TME) particularly during chemotherapy exposure. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) make up half of the immune population of the ovarian TME and are known to support CSCs and contribute to cancer progression. TAMs are plastic cells that alter their phenotype in response to environmental stimuli and thus may influence CSC maintenance during chemotherapy. Given the plasticity of

SUBMITTER: Cruz LS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11464072 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature