Microglia and macrophages in glioblastoma: landscapes and treatment directions

Abstract

Glioblastoma is the most common primary malignant tumour of the central nervous system and remains uniformly and rapidly fatal. The tumour‐associated macrophage (TAM) compartment comprises brain‐resident microglia and bone marrow‐derived macrophages (BMDMs) recruited from the periphery. Immune‐suppressive and tumour‐supportive TAM cell states predominate in glioblastoma, and immunotherapies, which have achieved striking success in other solid tumours have consistently failed to improve survival in this ‘immune‐cold’ niche context. Hypoxic and necrotic regions in the tumour core are found to enrich, especially in anti‐inflammatory and immune‐suppressive TAM cell states. Microglia predominate at the invasive tumour margin and express pro‐inflammatory and interferon TAM cell signatures. Depletion of TAMs, or repolarisation towards a pro‐inflammatory state, are appealing therapeutic strategies and will depend on effective understanding and classification of TAM cell ontogeny and state based on new single‐cell and spatial multi‐omic in situ profiling. Here, we explore the application of these datasets to expand and refine TAM characterisation, to inform improved modelling approaches, and ultimately underpin the effective manipulation of function.