Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Foggia, Italy.
Curr Pharm Des. 2012;18(27):4126-34. doi: 10.2174/138161212802430378.
The capacity of the immune system to distinguish foreign from self-antigen, and to subsequently eliminate the threat of disease without injuring the host is crucial for survival. It also serves to defend against tumor formation and progression via a process termed cancer immunosurveillance. Innate and adaptive immune cell types and effector molecules collectively function as extrinsic tumorsuppressor mechanisms. However, tumors may escape immunesurveillance through a variety of mechanisms that create a local microenvironment that is unfavorable for effective tumor immunity. Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) has pleiotropic effects on the immune system, and is recognized as one of the most potent immunosuppressive agents in facilitating oncogenesis. The TGF-β pathway promotes cancer progression by concomitantly enhancing tumor metastases while inhibiting the protective host immunity. In this review, we discuss mechanisms through which TGF-β interferes with the development of an anti-tumor immunity and potential means through which to circumvent its activity in order to define more effective cancer immunotherapies.
免疫系统区分自身抗原和外来抗原的能力，以及随后消除疾病威胁而不伤害宿主的能力，对生存至关重要。它还通过一种称为癌症免疫监视的过程来抵御肿瘤的形成和进展。先天和适应性免疫细胞类型和效应分子共同作为外在的肿瘤抑制机制发挥作用。然而，肿瘤可能通过多种机制逃避免疫监视，这些机制创造了不利于有效肿瘤免疫的局部微环境。转化生长因子β（TGF-β）对免疫系统具有多种作用，被认为是促进肿瘤发生的最有效的免疫抑制因子之一。TGF-β 途径通过同时增强肿瘤转移，同时抑制保护性宿主免疫，促进癌症进展。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了 TGF-β干扰抗肿瘤免疫发展的机制，以及规避其活性的潜在方法，以确定更有效的癌症免疫疗法。
