Fig. 1.

Cancer cells communicating with innate immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. Cancer cells recruit macrophages, mast cells, NK cells, fibroblast cells and endothelial cells to the tumor microenvironment. Cancer cells also induce polarization of macrophages into tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) by cytokines and chemokines. Various pro-inflammatory mediators and mitogenic growth factors secreted from the infiltrated immune cells promote cancer cell growth, progression, extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling and metastasis. Increased vasculature demand is supported by the recruited endothelial cells