Table 6.
Representative studies demonstrating the association of TAMs with tumor progression parameters in prostate cancer.
| Cohort of patients | Method of detection | TAM correlation with tumor growth and stage | TAM correlation with lymphatic and hematogenous metastasis | TAM correlation with survival | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 81 prostate cancer patients (USA) | IHC (manually) | 1.94-fold increase of stromal CD68+ TAM amount is found in tumors with T1a–T2a stages (mean = 228.5) vs. T3a stage (mean = 118.0). fivefold increase of CD68+ TAM amount is found in cancer area with Gleason score 8–10 (mean = 138.0) vs. Gleason score 4–6 (mean = 27.6) |
Decrease of mean CD68+ TAM amount in primary cancer by 48% (from 59.3 to 30.7 cells at ×400) is associated with LN metastases |
Increase of CD68+ TAM amount above the mean (185.8) is associated with increased RFS rate by 44% | (255) |
| 131 prostate cancer patients (Japan) | IHC (not specified) | 1.6-fold increase of CD68+ TAM amount is found in tumors of stage T ≥ 3 (mean = 40.54) vs. T ≤ 2 stage (mean = 25.26). 1.87-fold increase of CD68+ TAM amount is found in cases with Gleason score≥8 (mean = 44.94) vs. Gleason ≤ 6 (mean = 24.03). | Not studied | High amount of CD68+ TAMs (≥22 per ×400 HPF) correlates with decreased RFS rate by 75% | (59) |
| 100 prostate adenocarcinoma patients (Turkey) | IHC (manually) | Increase of CD68+ TAM amount (≥15 cells under ×400, defined as score 3) is indicative for Gleason score ≥8 and stage III | High amount of CD68+ TAMs (≥15 cells under ×400) correlates with extracapsular extension and perineural invasion | Not significant | (256) |
| 93 prostate cancer patients (Italy) | IHC (manually) | fourfold increase of mean amount of CD163+ TAMs vs. CD68+ TAMs is associated with Gleason score ≥ 7 | Not studied | Patients with tumors of high CD163+ TAM amount show reduced biochemical RFS rates by 16% compared to those with high CD68+ TAM amount | (257) |
| 234 prostate cancer patients (Sweden) | IHC (digital imaging scanning) | 1.7-fold increase of CD163+ TAM amount is found in tumors with Gleason score ≥ 8 (mean = 100.0) vs. Gleason < 6 (mean = 60.1) | 1.3-fold increase of mean CD163+ TAM amount (from 74.8 to 99.9) in primary cancer is associated with presence of bones metastases | Increase of CD163+ TAM amount (above 99) correlates with reduced DSS | (258) |
| 135 prostate cancer patients (Japan) | IHC in TMA | Low amount of CD204+ TAMs (<24 cells per 0.06175 mm2) is associated with high PSA level (>20 ng/ml) 1.6-fold decrease of CD204+ TAM amount in tumors with Gleason score ≥ 8 (mean = 19.17) vs. Gleason ≤ 6 (mean = 30.2) |
Not studied | Low amount of CD204+ TAMs (<24 cells per 0.06175 mm2) is associated with decreased RFS rate by 25% | (259) |
DFS, disease-free survival; DSS, disease-specific survival; HPF, high-power field; IF, immunofluorescence; IHC, immunohistochemistry; LN, lymph node; TAM, tumor-associated macrophages; OS, overall survival; RFS, recurrence-free survival; TMA, tissue microarray.