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Title: Glial and myeloid heterogeneity in the brain tumour microenvironment.

Authors: Andersen, Brian M; Faust Akl, Camilo; Wheeler, Michael A; Chiocca, E Antonio; Reardon, David A; Quintana, Francisco J

Published In Nat Rev Cancer, (2021 Dec)

Abstract: Brain cancers carry bleak prognoses, with therapeutic advances helping only a minority of patients over the past decade. The brain tumour microenvironment (TME) is highly immunosuppressive and differs from that of other malignancies as a result of the glial, neural and immune cell populations that constitute it. Until recently, the study of the brain TME was limited by the lack of methods to de-convolute this complex system at the single-cell level. However, novel technical approaches have begun to reveal the immunosuppressive and tumour-promoting properties of distinct glial and myeloid cell populations in the TME, identifying new therapeutic opportunities. Here, we discuss the immune modulatory functions of microglia, monocyte-derived macrophages and astrocytes in brain metastases and glioma, highlighting their disease-associated heterogeneity and drawing from the insights gained by studying these malignancies and other neurological disorders. Lastly, we consider potential approaches for the therapeutic modulation of the brain TME.

PubMed ID: 34584243 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: Brain; Brain Neoplasms*/pathology; Glioma*/pathology; Humans; Microglia/pathology; Tumor Microenvironment

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