Laboratorio de Inmunopatología, Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires C1428, Argentina.
Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2011 Nov;12(11):1923-36. doi: 10.2174/138920111798376987.
Immune cells actively influence, among other factors, each step of tumor development determining the chance of a cancer cell to survive in a threaten microenvironment. Antitumor immune-mediated mechanisms are activated as soon as the first cancer cell is detected and operate both during primary tumor formation and during metastasis. However, when both innate and adaptive immunity becomes impaired, tumor development occurs. In this sense, compelling evidences indicate that tumor cells employ mechanisms that circumvent or thwart the immune response to enhance their own growth. These mechanisms include the secretion of immunosuppressive factors and the induction of distinct regulatory lymphoid or myeloid cells and, as occur with the immune response, they operate both during primary tumor formation and metastasis. Interestingly, cellular and molecular mechanisms of the immune response are important components of the tumor microenvironment and have the ability to promote or suppress tumor progression depending of the context of each cell interaction. In that sense, researchers are focusing their attention in the study of the influence of the tumor microenvironment in tumor growth and metastasis to better understand cancer biology and to formulate novel therapeutic approach. This review will focus on the present knowledge about interaction between immune cells and tumors in the context of metastasis, discussing the participation of different components of innate and adaptive immune response in the process of metastasis formation and dissemination.
免疫细胞积极影响肿瘤发展的每一个步骤，这些影响因素包括肿瘤微环境等，从而决定癌细胞在受到威胁的微环境中存活的机会。一旦第一个癌细胞被检测到，抗肿瘤免疫介导的机制就会被激活，并且在原发性肿瘤形成和转移过程中都起作用。然而，当先天免疫和适应性免疫都受损时，肿瘤就会发展。从这个意义上说，有强有力的证据表明，肿瘤细胞采用了规避或破坏免疫反应的机制来促进自身生长。这些机制包括分泌免疫抑制因子和诱导不同的调节性淋巴或髓样细胞，并且与免疫反应一样，它们在原发性肿瘤形成和转移过程中都起作用。有趣的是，免疫反应的细胞和分子机制是肿瘤微环境的重要组成部分，并且能够根据每个细胞相互作用的情况促进或抑制肿瘤的进展。在这种意义上，研究人员正在关注肿瘤微环境对肿瘤生长和转移的影响的研究，以更好地了解癌症生物学并制定新的治疗方法。这篇综述将重点讨论在转移背景下免疫细胞与肿瘤之间相互作用的现有知识，讨论固有和适应性免疫反应的不同成分在转移形成和传播过程中的参与。
