Tumor-intrinsic signaling pathways: key roles in the regulation of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment

• Published in: Journal of hematology and oncology Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 125
• Main Authors: Yang, Li, Li, Aitian, Lei, Qingyang, Zhang, Yi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 27.11.2019; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Breast cancer; Cancer; Cancer immunotherapy; Cancer patients; Cancer treatment; Chemokines; Cytotoxicity; Development and progression; Gene expression; Genetic aspects; Hematology; Immune escape; Immunosuppressive cells; Immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment; Immunotherapy; Lung cancer; Lymphocytes; Melanoma; Metastases; Molecular modelling; Mutation; Oncology; Patients; Prostate cancer; Review; Signal transduction; T cell infiltration; T cells; Therapeutic applications; Tumor-intrinsic signaling; Tumors; Immunosuppressive cells; Tumor-intrinsic signaling; Immune escape; Immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment; T cell infiltration
• ISSN: 1756-8722; 1756-8722
• DOI: 10.1186/s13045-019-0804-8

Immunotherapy is a currently popular treatment strategy for cancer patients. Although recent developments in cancer immunotherapy have had significant clinical impact, only a subset of patients exhibits clinical response. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance is necessary. The mechanisms of immune escape appear to consist of two distinct tumor characteristics: a decrease in effective immunocyte infiltration and function and the accumulation of immunosuppressive cells in the tumor microenvironment. Several host-derived factors may also contribute to immune escape. Moreover, inter-patient heterogeneity predominantly results from differences in somatic mutations between cancers, which has led to the hypothesis that differential activation of specific tumor-intrinsic pathways may explain the phenomenon of immune exclusion in a subset of cancers. Increasing evidence has also shown that tumor-intrinsic signaling plays a key role in regulating the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and tumor immune escape. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms underlying immune avoidance mediated by tumor-intrinsic signaling may help identify new therapeutic targets for expanding the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies.