Gemcitabine Recruits M2-Type Tumor-Associated Macrophages into the Stroma of Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract

Gemcitabine treatment of PDAC xenografts stimulates a protumoral macrophage phenotype, and this, in combination with a shift of the tumor cells to a mesenchymal phenotype that we reported previously, contributes to tumor progression and therapeutic resistance. Targeting M2-polarized TAMs may benefit PDAC patients at risk to become refractory to current anticancer regimens.