The re-polarisation of M2 and M1 macrophages and its role on cancer outcomes

JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY

卷:390

Article

den Breems, Nicoline Y.^1,2,3  Eftimie, Raluca² 

[1] Lincoln Univ, C fACS, Lincoln 7476, New Zealand

[2] Univ Dundee, Div Math, Dundee DD1 4HN, Scotland

[3] Univ Dundee, Div Canc Res, Dundee DD1 9SY, Scotland

关键词: Cancer modelling;    M1 and M2 macrophages;    Th1 and Th2 immune cells;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.10.034

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The anti-tumour and pro-tumour roles of Th1/Th2 immune cells and M1/M2 macrophages have been documented by numerous experimental studies. However, it is still unknown how these immune cells interact with each other to control tumour dynamics. Here, we use a mathematical model for the interactions between mouse melanoma cells, Th2/Th1 cells and M2/M1 macrophages, to investigate the unknown role of the re-polarisation between M1 and M2 macrophages on tumour growth. The results show that tumour growth is associated with a type-II immune response described by large numbers of Th2 and M2 cells. Moreover, we show that (i) the ratio k of the transition rates k(12) (for the re-polarisation M1 -> M2) and k(21) (for the re-polarisation M2 -> M1) is important in reducing tumour population, and (ii) the particular values of these transition rates control the delay in tumour growth and the final tumour size. We also perform a sensitivity analysis to investigate the effect of various model parameters on changes in the tumour cell population, and confirm that the ratio k alone and the ratio of M2 and M1 macrophage populations at earlier times (e.g., day 7) cannot always predict the final tumour size. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free