Transcriptomic Characterization of Pancreatic Cancer-Associated Macrophage Polarization

The pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) microenvironment is composed of a variety of cell types and marked by extensive fibrosis and inflammation. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) are abundant, and they are important mediators of disease progression and invasion. TAMs are polarized in situ to a tumor promoting and immunosuppressive phenotype via cytokine signaling and metabolic crosstalk from malignant epithelial cells and other components of the tumor microenvironment (TME). However, the specific distinguishing features and functions of TAMs remain poorly defined. Here, we generated tumor-educated macrophages (TEM) in vitro andanalyzed the transcriptome. Three replicates each of six conditions were subjected to polyA+ RNA-seq. Bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) were treated with M-CSF, LPS, IL4, or conditioned media from Kras-Off ("noDOX", 3 days or 5 days) or Kras-On ("plusDOX") pacreatic adenocarcinoma (PDA) cells.