The Interplay of Autophagy and the Immune System in the Tumor Microenvironment

Abstract

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is a very complicated ecosystem that consists of cancerous cells coexisting with various noncancerous and immune cells. TME shows exclusive cellular crosstalk between cancer and other cell types that have prominent consequences on tumor initiation, progression, and development. Of note, the immune system is an important determinant in the TME for tumor development, thus highlighting the importance of immunotherapy for better cancer treatment. Recently, the multifaceted role of autophagy in cancer immunity in the TME is extremely debated and exploited for the development of cutting-edge autophagy-based cancer immunotherapeutics. Interestingly, autophagy limits the immune responses by regulating the action of immune cells and the generation of cytokines. On the contrary, some immune cells and cytokines also manipulate the function of autophagy. A growing number of study spotlights the context-dependent role of autophagy in cancer immunity: It can activate the anti-tumor immunity by sustaining the integrity of the immune cells; however, it can also help the tumor cells to bypass the immune checkpoints by constraining the immune cell functions during hypoxia. In this chapter, we delineate the basic process of autophagy, the role autophagy in maintaining the crosstalk between cancer cells and stromal cells, and in particular, focusing more on the interaction of autophagy with cancer immunity. Finally, we highlight the role of autophagy as an ideal candidate for cancer immunotherapy.