Mechanisms of immune escape in the cancer immune cycle

Abstract

Cancer is a critical issue globally with high incidence and mortality, imposing great burden on the society. Although great progress has been made in immunotherapy based on immune checkpoint, only a subset of patients responds to this treatment, suggesting that cancer immune evasion is still a major barrier in current immunotherapy. There are a series of factors contributing to immune evasion despite in an immunocompetent environment. Given that these factors are involved in different steps of the cancer immune cycle. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms of immune escape in each step of the cancer immune cycle and then present therapeutic strategies for overcoming immune escape, with the potential to better understand the determinants of immune escape and make anti-tumor immunity more effective.

Keywords: Cancer immune cycle; Immune checkpoint; Immune escape; Immunotherapy.