The ontogeny of tumor-associated macrophages: a new understanding of cancer-elicited inflammation.

Clinical and experimental models have identified macrophages as potential targets for cancer therapy, however, the nature of macrophage differentiation and function in the context of malignant disease remain largely uncharacterized. This commentary provides the author's perspective on the recently published article "The cellular and molecular origin of tumor-associated macrophages," which demonstrated that tumor growth elicits a specific macrophage differentiation pathway.