The correlation between tumor-associated macrophage infiltration and progression in cervical carcinoma

Tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a particularly important role in the progression, invasion and metastasis of cervical carcinoma (CC). Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are significant components of the tumor microenvironment in CC. However, the results of studies on the correlation between TAMs and progression in CC are still controversial. This research aimed to investigate the relationship between TAMs infiltration and progression in CC. A total of 100 patients with CC were included in the study. The correlation between TAMs and clinicopathologic features was studied. Besides, a systematic literature search was conducted from legitimate electronic databases to specifically evaluate the role of TAMs in TME of cervical carcinoma. In the meta-analysis, high stromal CD68+ TAMs density was relevant to lymph node metastasis (WMD = 11.89, 95% CI: 5.30–18.47). At the same time, CD163+ M2 TAM density was associated with lymph node metastasis (OR = 2.42, 95% CI: 1.09–5.37; WMD = 39.37, 95% CI: 28.25–50.49) and FIGO stage (WMD = -33.60, 95% CI: -45.04 to -22.16). This was further confirmed in the experimental study of 100 tissues of cervical cancer. It supported a critical role of TAMs as a prospective predictor of cervical cancer. In conclusion, CD68+ TAM and CD163+ M2 TAM infiltration in CC were associated with tumor progression. And CD163+ M2 TAM infiltration was associated with more advanced FIGO stage and lymph node metastasis in CC.