Digital PCR-based T Cell Quantification Assisted Deconvolution of the Microenvironment Reveals that Activated Macrophages Drive Tumor Inflammation in Uveal Melanoma

The authors elucidate the importance of studying the tumour´s environment, namely the presence of macrophage originated T-cells in poor prognosis cases.

Summary

The evolution of a patient’s uveal melanoma (UM) can be predicted by the information contained within UM cancer cells. Clinicians can study this information by performing a tumour biopsy.

In the cases where we are dealing with an aggressive cancer, the analysis of which type of white blood cells (the cells that our body has to defence himself) infiltrate the cancer can be of help.

More specifically, the quantification (number of cells present) of a certain type of white blood cell (T-cell) that originate from macrophages - cells responsible for detecting and destroying foreign cells - allows for further stratification of patients who present poor prognosis disease.

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