Title:Understanding Tumor-Antigen Presentation in the New Era of Cancer Immunotherapy
Volume: 22
Issue: 41
Author(s): Daniela Cerezo-Wallis and Maria S. Soengas
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Antigen presenting cells, cancer, neoantigens, immunotherapy, immunosupression, immunotolerance.
Abstract: For more than a century, scientists have tried to exploit the anti-tumoral potential
of the immune system to treat cancer. However, clinical success was traditionally limited.
Consequently, classical anti-neoplastic treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy
used to be the first line of treatment. Fortunately, this scenario is changing, particularly
with the identification of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Now more than ever, it becomes
essential to understand how cancer cells modulate the immune system. In this review,
we summarize main mechanisms of antigen presentation in the tumor microenvironment, a
main event in the establishment of anti-tumor immunity. Specifically, we focus on recent
progress in mechanisms involved in tumor antigen presentation, as well as on strategies
cancer cells develop to favor immune suppressive and immune tolerant enironments. In
addition, we briefly discuss current therapeutic approaches to overcome tumor immune
evasion.
