Retrospective Cohort Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 16, 2025; 13(23): 105011
Published online Aug 16, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i23.105011
Exploring macrophage polarization as a prognostic indicator for colorectal cancer: Unveiling the impact of metalloproteinase mutations
Eduardo Brambilla, Daniel Jun Funatsu Brambilla, Aline Caldart Tregnago, Floriano Riva, Fabio Firmbach Pasqualotto, Jonathan Soldera
Eduardo Brambilla, Clinical Gastroenterology, Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul 95070-560, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Daniel Jun Funatsu Brambilla, School of Medicine, Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul 95070-560, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Aline Caldart Tregnago, Floriano Riva, Department of Pathology, Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul 95070-560, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Fabio Firmbach Pasqualotto, Department of Urology, Universidade de Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul 95070-560, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Jonathan Soldera, Department of Gastroenterology and Acute Medicine, University of South Wales, Cardiff CF37 1DL, United Kingdom
Co-first authors: Eduardo Brambilla and Jonathan Soldera.
Author contributions: Brambilla E and Soldera J contribute equally to this study as co-first authors; Brambilla E participated in the study design, writing, data collection, data analysis, and supervision; Brambilla DJF contributed to data collection and drafting the original manuscript; Tregnago AC and Riva F were involved in data collection, analysis, and immunohistochemistry studies; Pasqualotto FF and Soldera J contributed to the study design, drafting the manuscript, and reviewing the final version.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Universidade de Caxias do Sul under approval number 84709824.5.0000.5341.
Informed consent statement: The requirement for informed consent was waived as this study used retrospective data collected from electronic medical records.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest pertaining to the subject matter discussed in this paper.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: De-identified data may be shared upon reasonable request.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jonathan Soldera, PhD, Tutor, Department of Gastroenterology and Acute Medicine, University of South Wales, Llantwit Road, Pontypridd, Cardiff CF37 1DL, United Kingdom. jonathansoldera@gmail.com
Received: January 13, 2025
Revised: March 24, 2025
Accepted: May 7, 2025
Published online: August 16, 2025
Processing time: 146 Days and 21 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This study investigates the prognostic significance of macrophage polarization in colorectal cancer (CRC), focusing on patients with and without metalloproteinase mutations. Using M1 (inducible nitric oxide synthase) and M2 (CD163, CD206) markers, macrophage densities were quantified and correlated with survival and clinical outcomes. While no significant differences in macrophage density or polarization were observed between groups, the study highlights a potential protective role of metalloproteinase mutations, as patients harboring these mutations demonstrated improved survival rates. This insight may guide future research into the tumor microenvironment and its implications for CRC prognosis and therapy.