Therapeutic utility of immunosuppressive TREM2+macrophages: An important step forward in potentiating the immune checkpoint inhibitors

Abstract

In a recent article published in Cell, Molgora et al.1 reported that asubset of tumor-infiltrating macrophages with TREM2 expressioncreates an immunosuppressive microenvironment that promotestumor growth while suppressing anti-tumor immune responses.Targeting these TREM2+ macrophages via genetic ablation of thegene or specific antibodies against the protein reduces tumorgrowth in animal models; however, it further attenuates tumorgrowth when combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI)by promoting the expression of immunostimulatory molecules.