Cancer is a progressive disease that can develop and evolve over decades, with inflammation playing a central role at each of its stages, from tumor initiation to metastasis. In this context, macrophages represent well-established bridges reciprocally linking inflammation and cancer via an array of diverse functions that have spurred efforts to classify them into subtypes. Here, we discuss the intertwines between macrophages, inflammation, and cancer with an emphasis on temporal dynamics of macrophage diversity and functions in pre-malignancy and cancer. By instilling temporal dynamism into the more static classic view of tumor-associated macrophage biology, we propose a new framework to better contextualize their significance in the inflammatory processes that precede and result from the onset of cancer and shape its evolution.

中文翻译：

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肿瘤相关巨噬细胞身份和功能的时间视角

癌症是一种进行性疾病，可以在数十年的时间内发展和演变，炎症在从肿瘤发生到转移的每个阶段都发挥着核心作用。在这种情况下，巨噬细胞代表了通过一系列不同功能相互连接炎症和癌症的既定桥梁，这些功能促使人们努力将它们分类为亚型。在这里，我们讨论巨噬细胞、炎症和癌症之间的相互交织，重点关注巨噬细胞多样性的时间动态以及癌前和癌症中的功能。通过将时间动态注入肿瘤相关巨噬细胞生物学的更静态的经典观点中，我们提出了一个新的框架，以更好地了解它们在癌症发病之前和由其引起的炎症过程中的重要性，并塑造其进化。