Negative regulators in cancer immunology and immunotherapy

Abstract

It is now well established that the immune system is able to detect and destroy tumors in a process termed tumor immunosurveillance. However, the "dark side" of tumor immunity is immune evasion. That is, by the time a patient suffers from a clinically-detectable tumor, the tumor has already successfully evaded cancer immunosurveillance and often has established effective mechanisms to actively suppress the immune system, particularly in the tumor microenvironment. Therefore, cell contact-dependent and -independent immunosuppressive networks represent a significant barrier to effective immunity and immunotherapy. In this chapter, we describe some of these immunosuppressive mechanisms and components that are linked in complex networks. A better understanding of these mechanisms will eventually lead to improvements of cancer immunotherapies.