The role of angiogenic growth factors in the immune microenvironment of glioma

Zhengmao Ge; Qi Zhang; Wei Lin; Xiaofan Jiang; Yanyu Zhang

doi:10.3389/fonc.2023.1254694

The role of angiogenic growth factors in the immune microenvironment of glioma

Front Oncol. 2023 Sep 13:13:1254694. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1254694. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Zhengmao Ge¹, Qi Zhang¹, Wei Lin¹, Xiaofan Jiang¹, Yanyu Zhang¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.

Abstract

Angiogenic growth factors (AGFs) are a class of secreted cytokines related to angiogenesis that mainly include vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs), stromal-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), platelet-derived growth factors (PDGFs), fibroblast growth factors (FGFs), transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) and angiopoietins (ANGs). Accumulating evidence indicates that the role of AGFs is not only limited to tumor angiogenesis but also participating in tumor progression by other mechanisms that go beyond their angiogenic role. AGFs were shown to be upregulated in the glioma microenvironment characterized by extensive angiogenesis and high immunosuppression. AGFs produced by tumor and stromal cells can exert an immunomodulatory role in the glioma microenvironment by interacting with immune cells. This review aims to sum up the interactions among AGFs, immune cells and cancer cells with a particular emphasis on glioma and tries to provide new perspectives for understanding the glioma immune microenvironment and in-depth explorations for anti-glioma therapy.

Keywords: angiogenic growth factor; glioma; immune cell; immune modulation; tumor microenvironment.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82303425 and No. 82171458), Xijing Hospital (XJZT21CM07 and XJZT21J06), and Xi’an Science and Technology Bureau Fund (22YXYJ0153).