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The immune contexture, a suggested collegial name for the sum of the loca-tion, density and functional orientation of immune cells, plays multiple impor-tant roles in tumor progression and hence critically influences patient prognosis.1 The work on inflammatory processes in human cancers has allowed for the identification of components of the immune system that can be both beneficial and detrimental for a growing tumor. One of such com-ponents are macrophages, playing impor-tant functions in both innate and adaptive immune responses. Macrophages have been shown to adopt various phenotypes, mainly depending on the environment in which they are found, and there are many examples of macrophage-polarizing events during tumor progression, includ-ing the secretion of tumor-derived media-tors, hypoxic and necrotic factors, tissue damage, as well as influences from other immune cells and stromal components.2 The role of macrophages in tumor progres-sion has been shown to be double-edged, since these cells can both promote tumor rejection (M1 macrophages) and stimu-late tumor growth (M2 macrophages). In brief, pro-inflammatory, or classically acti-vated M1 macrophages, exerting important Macrophages Good guys in colorectal cancer sofia edin,1, * Maria L wikberg,1 Per-Arne Oldenborg2 and richard Palmqvist