Tackling cancer cell dormancy: Insights from immune models, and transplantation

Alexandre Corthay; Tibor Bakacs; Govindarajan Thangavelu; Colin C Anderson

doi:10.1016/j.semcancer.2021.02.002

Tackling cancer cell dormancy: Insights from immune models, and transplantation

Semin Cancer Biol. 2022 Jan:78:5-16. doi: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2021.02.002. Epub 2021 Feb 11.

Authors

Alexandre Corthay¹, Tibor Bakacs², Govindarajan Thangavelu³, Colin C Anderson⁴

Affiliations

¹ Tumor Immunology Lab, Department of Pathology, Rikshospitalet, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; Hybrid Technology Hub - Centre of Excellence, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: alexandre.corthay@medisin.uio.no.
² PRET Therapeutics Ltd., Budapest, 1124, Hungary.
³ Departments of Surgery and Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Alberta Diabetes Institute, Alberta Transplant Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
⁴ Departments of Surgery and Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Alberta Diabetes Institute, Alberta Transplant Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Electronic address: colinand@ualberta.ca.

PMID: 33582171
DOI: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2021.02.002

Abstract

Disseminated non-dividing (dormant) cancer cells as well as those in equilibrium with the immune response remain the major challenge for successful treatment of cancer. The equilibrium between disseminated dormant cancer cells and the immune system is reminiscent of states that can occur during infection or allogeneic tissue and cell transplantation. We discuss here the major competing models of how the immune system achieves a self nonself discrimination (pathogen/danger patterns, quorum, and coinhibition/tuning models), and suggest that taking advantage of a combination of the proposed mechanisms in each model may lead to increased efficacy in tackling cancer cell dormancy.

Keywords: Cancer dormancy; Coinhibitory; Hyperthermia; Immune tolerance; T cell activation.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Disease Management
Disease Susceptibility* / immunology
Humans
Immune System
Models, Biological*
Molecular Diagnostic Techniques
Neoplasms / diagnosis
Neoplasms / etiology*
Neoplasms / metabolism*
Transplantation / adverse effects
Transplantation / methods
Tumor Microenvironment*

Grants and funding

PS148588/CIHR/Canada