Tumor microenvironment-related dendritic cell deficiency: a target to enhance tumor immunotherapy

Pharmacol Res. 2020 Sep:159:104980. doi: 10.1016/j.phrs.2020.104980. Epub 2020 Jun 3.

Abstract

Dendritic cells (DCs), as specialized antigen-presenting cells, are essential for the initiation of specific T cell responses in innate antitumor immunity and, in certain cases, support humoral responses to inhibit tumor development. Mounting evidence suggests that the DC system displays a broad spectrum of dysfunctional status in the tumor microenvironment (TME), which ultimately affects antitumor immune responses. DC-based therapy can restore the function of DCs in the TME, thus showing a promising potential in tumor therapy. In this review, we provide an overview of the DC deficiency caused by various factors in the TME and discuss proposed strategies to reverse DC deficiency and the applications of novel combinatorial DC-based therapy for immune normalization of the tumor.

Keywords: DC-based therapy; Dendritic cells; Dysfunction; Tumor microenvironment.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cancer Vaccines / therapeutic use
  • Dendritic Cells / drug effects
  • Dendritic Cells / immunology*
  • Dendritic Cells / metabolism
  • Dendritic Cells / transplantation
  • Humans
  • Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors / therapeutic use
  • Immunotherapy
  • Neoplasms / immunology*
  • Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Neoplasms / pathology
  • Neoplasms / therapy
  • Tumor Escape* / drug effects
  • Tumor Microenvironment*

Substances

  • Cancer Vaccines
  • Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors