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Phenotypical change of tumor-associated macrophages in metastatic lesions of clear cell renal cell carcinoma

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Abstract

Macrophages are the main immune cells of the tumor microenvironment in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). A high density of CD163+ or CD204+ tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), rather than the density of total TAMs, is known to be linked to poor clinical outcome. In the present study, we investigated the phenotypical differences between the paired primary and metastatic lesions in ccRCC cases. Using immunostaining, the densities of CD163+ and CD204+ TAMs in metastatic lesions were found to be significantly lower compared to primary lesions, although the total number of TAMs was increased in metastatic lesions. Since CD163 and CD204 are considered to be the markers of an M2/protumor phenotype in macrophages, TAMs in metastatic lesions are suggested to have a greater M1/inflammatory function compared with those from primary lesions. These findings give new insights in regard to the immunological status of metastatic lesions of ccRCC.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ms. Ikuko Miyakawa, and Mr. Takenobu Nakagawa for their technical assistance. This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (No. 16H05162, 16K15503).

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Author notes

  1. Takanobu Motoshima and Yuji Miura equally contributed to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell Pathology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, 1-1-1 Honjo, Chuouku, Kumamoto, 860-8556, Japan

    Takanobu Motoshima, Nanako Wakigami, Natsuki Kusada, Motohiro Takeya & Yoshihiro Komohara

  2. Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, 1-1-1 Honjo, Kumamoto, 860-8556, Japan

    Takanobu Motoshima, Yutaka Sugiyama & Tomomi Kamba

  3. Department of Medical Oncology, Toranomon Hospital, 2-2-2 Toranomon Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-8470, Japan

    Yuji Miura & Toshimi Takano

  4. Department of Pathology, Toranomon Hospital, 2-2-2 Toranomon Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-8470, Japan

    Naoko Inoshita

  5. Department of Urology, Toranomon Hospital, 2-2-2 Toranomon Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-8470, Japan

    Toshikazu Okaneya

Authors
  1. Takanobu Motoshima
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  2. Yuji Miura
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  11. Yoshihiro Komohara
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Correspondence to Yoshihiro Komohara.

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Motoshima, T., Miura, Y., Wakigami, N. et al. Phenotypical change of tumor-associated macrophages in metastatic lesions of clear cell renal cell carcinoma. Med Mol Morphol 51, 57–63 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00795-017-0174-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00795-017-0174-7

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