Dissecting the roles of tissue-resident macrophages in tumorigenesis

Macrophages are immune cells that have important roles in cancer. There are two different types of macrophages; tissue-resident macrophages (TRM) that develop from the embryo and monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) that come from adult bone marrow. We recently showed that TRM increase the invasive phenotype of cancer cells. Our hypothesis is that TRM have specific functions that promote tumour development. It's therefore critical to determine the unique features of TRM and understand how they promote tumour development. In this project we will use state-of-the-art techniques to analyse TRM in experimental cancer models and human cancer. We will develop new experimental tools to investigate the specific functions of TRM during tumour development and reveal new targets for therapeutic intervention.