Sheu B C, Hsu S M, Ho H N, Lin R H, Huang S C
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei.
J Formos Med Assoc. 1999 Nov;98(11):730-5.
Tumor immunology consists of two essential concepts: immune surveillance, which specifies the host immune reactions against tumor cells, and tumor immune escape, which refers to the tumor-cell evasion process against the host immune system. Effective antitumor immunity by the host immune surveillance is supposed to be dependent on the identification of tumor antigens. In the process of malignant transformation, genetic mutations with aberrant expression of cancer-related genes and protein products are potentially immunogenic, which may serve as rejection antigens. Several scenarios are proposed to be responsible for tumor immune-escape mechanisms. The elucidation of the immune deficit against cancer progression has been a difficult task and no solitary mechanism explains the complicated cancer-host immune interactions. Cancer cells may overcome immune surveillance through a common but effective pathway, either by changing the polarity of effector cells, thus down-regulating the proliferation of tumor-specific cytotoxic T cells, or altering the effector compositions of immune cells within the tumor milieu, or both. Understanding the interaction between cancer cells and host immune cells within the tumor milieu is of importance for further clinical applications of immunotherapy in cancer treatment.
免疫监视，它明确了宿主针对肿瘤细胞的免疫反应；以及肿瘤免疫逃逸，它指的是肿瘤细胞逃避宿主免疫系统的过程。宿主免疫监视产生的有效抗肿瘤免疫被认为依赖于肿瘤抗原的识别。在恶性转化过程中，癌症相关基因和蛋白质产物异常表达的基因突变可能具有免疫原性，可作为排斥抗原。有几种情况被认为是肿瘤免疫逃逸机制的原因。阐明针对癌症进展的免疫缺陷一直是一项艰巨的任务，没有单一机制能够解释复杂的癌症与宿主免疫相互作用。癌细胞可能通过一条常见但有效的途径克服免疫监视，要么通过改变效应细胞的极性，从而下调肿瘤特异性细胞毒性T细胞的增殖，要么改变肿瘤微环境中免疫细胞的效应成分，或者两者兼而有之。了解肿瘤微环境中癌细胞与宿主免疫细胞之间的相互作用对于免疫疗法在癌症治疗中的进一步临床应用至关重要。
