肿瘤相关巨噬细胞（TAM）代表最丰富的肿瘤浸润基质细胞之一，它们在肿瘤微环境（TME）中的正常功能是通过产生细胞因子来抑制肿瘤细胞，细胞因子触发直接细胞毒性和抗体介导的免疫反应。然而，当长时间暴露于 TME 时，这些所谓的 M1 型 TAM 的经典功能可以转化为另一种类型，即“M2 型”，肿瘤细胞会招募这种 TAM，从而促进肿瘤生长和转移。这就是为什么 TME 中 TAM 的积累与癌症患者的不良预后相关。 M1型和M2型都具有高度的可塑性，M2型细胞可以重编程为M1型以达到治疗目的。这一特性使 TAM 成为开发新型癌症治疗方法的有前景的靶标。此外，抑制 M2 型细胞、阻止其在 TME 中的募集以及通过诱导细胞凋亡来消除它们，是有效的癌症免疫治疗的其他方法。在这篇综述中，我们总结了 TAM 作为癌症免疫治疗目标的潜力，并提供了有关 TAM 靶向新策略的最新信息。© 2024。作者。

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) represent one of the most abundant tumor-infiltrating stromal cells, and their normal function in tumor microenvironment (TME) is to suppress tumor cells by producing cytokines which trigger both direct cell cytotoxicity and antibody-mediated immune response. However, upon prolonged exposure to TME, the classical function of these so-called M1-type TAMs can be converted to another type, "M2-type," which are recruited by tumor cells so that they promote tumor growth and metastasis. This is the reason why the accumulation of TAMs in TME is correlated with poor prognosis in cancer patients. Both M1- and M2-types have high degree of plasticity, and M2-type cells can be reprogrammed to M1-type for therapeutic purposes. This characteristic introduces TAMs as promising target for developing novel cancer treatments. In addition, inhibition of M2-type cells and blocking their recruitment in TME, as well as their depletion by inducing apoptosis, are other approaches for effective immunotherapy of cancer. In this review, we summarize the potential of TAMs to be targeted for cancer immunotherapy and provide an up-to-date about novel strategies for targeting TAMs.© 2024. The Author(s).