title: Prognostic impact of tumor-associated macrophage infiltration in non-small cell lung cancer: A systemic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are important components of cancer microenvironment. In the present study, we searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library and Web of Science to perform a meta-analysis of 20 studies including a total of 2,572 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, in order to determine the association between TAMs and NSCLC prognosis. The combined hazard ratio (HR) of 9 studies showed that the density of total CD68+ TAMs in the tumor islet and stroma was not associated with overall survival (OS) of the patients. However, the pooled HR of 4 studies showed that high density of CD68+ TAMs in the tumor islet predicted better OS, while the pooled HR of 6 studies showed that high density of CD68+ TAMs in the tumor stroma was associated with poor OS. A high islet/stroma ratio of CD68+ TAMs was associated with better OS. A high density of M1 TAMs in the tumor islet was associated with better OS, while a high density of M2 TAMs in the tumor stroma predicted poor OS. These findings suggest that, although the density of total CD68+ TAMs is not associated with OS, the localization and M1/M2 polarization of TAMs are potential prognostic predictors of NSCLC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.|Western China Collaborative Innovation Center for Early Diagnosis and Multidisciplinary Therapy of Lung Cancer, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Jiandong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mei
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.|Western China Collaborative Innovation Center for Early Diagnosis and Multidisciplinary Therapy of Lung Cancer, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Zhilan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.|Western China Collaborative Innovation Center for Early Diagnosis and Multidisciplinary Therapy of Lung Cancer, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Chenglin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.|Western China Collaborative Innovation Center for Early Diagnosis and Multidisciplinary Therapy of Lung Cancer, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Pu
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.|Western China Collaborative Innovation Center for Early Diagnosis and Multidisciplinary Therapy of Lung Cancer, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.|Western China Collaborative Innovation Center for Early Diagnosis and Multidisciplinary Therapy of Lung Cancer, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Chengwu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.|Western China Collaborative Innovation Center for Early Diagnosis and Multidisciplinary Therapy of Lung Cancer, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.|Western China Collaborative Innovation Center for Early Diagnosis and Multidisciplinary Therapy of Lung Cancer, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Hu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Department of Structural and Cellular Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
authors.forename: Zongbing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.|Western China Collaborative Innovation Center for Early Diagnosis and Multidisciplinary Therapy of Lung Cancer, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Lunxu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000276:immunology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment / Q000276:immunology*
keywords: clinicopathological characteristics; non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); prognosis; tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs)