Cancer immunosurveillance: Role of patrolling monocytes

Abstract

Classical inflammatory monocytes and their derivative macrophages promote tumor metastasis whereas CD8 T and NK cells restrict tumor growth. In a recent paper published in Science, Hanna and colleagues demonstrate that another monocyte population, nonclassical patrolling monocytes, is enriched in the microvasculature of tumor-challenged lung and reduces tumor metastasis by recruiting NK cells.