Interstitial tumor-associated macrophages combined with tumor-derived colony-stimulating factor-1 and interleukin-6, a novel prognostic biomarker in non-small cell lung cancer

The combination of CD68 plus TAMs, CSF-1, and IL-6 is very likely to be a valuable independent predictor of survival in patients with NSCLC. Perhaps co-expression of CSF-1 and IL-6 induces interstitial TAMs to shift toward the tumor-promoting phenotype.