Molecular and Metabolic Imaging Laboratory, Cancer Research Department, Sidra Medicine, Doha 26999, Qatar.
Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Central University of Kashmir, Ganderbal 191201, India.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Apr 27;22(9):4584. doi: 10.3390/ijms22094584.
Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) are aggressive diseases with a dismal patient prognosis. Despite significant advances in treatment modalities, the five-year survival rate in patients with HNSCC has improved marginally and therefore warrants a comprehensive understanding of the HNSCC biology. Alterations in the cellular and non-cellular components of the HNSCC tumor micro-environment (TME) play a critical role in regulating many hallmarks of cancer development including evasion of apoptosis, activation of invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, response to therapy, immune escape mechanisms, deregulation of energetics, and therefore the development of an overall aggressive HNSCC phenotype. Cytokines and chemokines are small secretory proteins produced by neoplastic or stromal cells, controlling complex and dynamic cell-cell interactions in the TME to regulate many cancer hallmarks. This review summarizes the current understanding of the complex cytokine/chemokine networks in the HNSCC TME, their role in activating diverse signaling pathways and promoting tumor progression, metastasis, and therapeutic resistance development.
头颈部鳞状细胞癌（HNSCC）是一种侵袭性疾病，患者预后较差。尽管治疗方式有了显著进展，但 HNSCC 患者的五年生存率仅略有改善，因此需要全面了解 HNSCC 的生物学特性。HNSCC 肿瘤微环境（TME）中细胞和非细胞成分的改变在调节癌症发展的许多特征方面起着关键作用，包括逃避细胞凋亡、激活侵袭、转移、血管生成、对治疗的反应、免疫逃逸机制、能量代谢失调，从而导致整体侵袭性 HNSCC 表型的发展。细胞因子和趋化因子是由肿瘤或基质细胞产生的小分泌蛋白，控制着 TME 中复杂而动态的细胞-细胞相互作用，从而调节许多癌症特征。本综述总结了目前对 HNSCC TME 中复杂的细胞因子/趋化因子网络的理解，包括它们在激活多种信号通路以及促进肿瘤进展、转移和治疗耐药性发展中的作用。
