Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, USA.
Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2021;1350:33-66. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-83282-7_2.
Thyroid cancer incidence is increasing at an alarming rate, almost tripling every decade. About 44,280 new cases of thyroid cancer (12,150 in men and 32,130 in women) are estimated to be diagnosed in 2021, with an estimated death toll of around 2200. Although most thyroid tumors are treatable and associated with a favorable outcome, anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is extremely aggressive with a grim prognosis of 6-9 months post-diagnosis. A large contributing factor to this aggressive nature is that ATC is completely refractory to mainstream therapies. Analysis of the tumor microenvironment (TME) associated with ATC can relay insight to the pathological realm that encompasses tumors and aids in cancer progression and proliferation. The TME is defined as a complex niche that surrounds a tumor and involves a plethora of cellular components whose secretions can modulate the environment in order to favor tumor progression. The cellular heterogeneity of the TME contributes to its dynamic function due to the presence of both immune and nonimmune resident, infiltrating, and interacting cell types. Associated immune cells discussed in this chapter include macrophages, dendritic cells (DCs), natural killer (NK) cells, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). Nonimmune cells also play a role in the establishment and proliferation of the TME, including neuroendocrine (NE) cells, adipocytes, endothelial cells (ECs), mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and fibroblasts. The dynamic nature of the TME contributes greatly to cancer progression.Recent work has found ATC tissues to be defined by a T cell-inflamed "hot" tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) as evidenced by presence of CD3+ and CD8+ T cells. These tumor types are amenable to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. This therapeutic avenue, as of 2021, has remained unexplored in ATC. New studies should seek to explore the therapeutic feasibility of a combination therapy, through the use of a small molecule inhibitor with ICB in ATC. Screening of in vitro model systems representative of papillary, anaplastic, and follicular thyroid cancer explored the expression of 29 immune checkpoint molecules. There are higher expressions of HVEM, BTLA, and CD160 in ATC cell lines when compared to the other TC subtypes. The expression level of HVEM was more than 30-fold higher in ATC compared to the others, on average. HVEM is a member of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor superfamily, which acts as a bidirectional switch through interaction with BTLA, CD160, and LIGHT, in a cis or trans manner. Given the T cell-inflamed hot TIME in ATC, expression of HVEM on tumor cells was suggestive of a possibility for complex crosstalk of HVEM with inflammatory cytokines. Altogether, there is emerging evidence of a T cell-inflamed TIME in ATC along with the expression of immune checkpoint proteins HVEM, BTLA, and CD160 in ATC. This can open doors for combination therapies using small molecule inhibitors targeting downstream effectors of MAPK pathway and antagonistic antibodies targeting the HVEM/BTLA axis as a potentially viable therapeutic avenue for ATC patients. With this being stated, the development of adaptive resistance to targeted therapies is inevitable; therefore, using a combination therapy that targets the TIME can serve as a preemptive tactic against the characteristic therapeutic resistance that is seen in ATC. The dynamic nature of the TME, including the immune cells, nonimmune cells, and acellular components, can serve as viable targets for combination therapy in ATC. Understanding the complex interactions of these associated cells and the paradigm in which their secretions and components can serve as immunomodulators are critical points of understanding when trying to develop therapeutics specifically tailored for the anaplastic thyroid carcinoma microenvironment.
甲状腺癌的发病率呈惊人的速度增长,几乎每十年增加两倍。据估计,2021 年将诊断出约 44,280 例新的甲状腺癌病例(男性 12,150 例,女性 32,130 例),死亡人数约为 2200 人。尽管大多数甲状腺肿瘤是可治疗的,且预后良好,但间变性甲状腺癌(ATC)的侵袭性极强,诊断后 6-9 个月的死亡率高达 6-9 个月。导致这种侵袭性的一个主要因素是,ATC 对主流治疗方法完全耐药。分析与 ATC 相关的肿瘤微环境(TME)可以深入了解包括肿瘤在内的病理领域,并有助于癌症的进展和增殖。TME 被定义为一个复杂的生态位,围绕着肿瘤,涉及大量的细胞成分,其分泌物可以调节环境,有利于肿瘤的进展。由于存在免疫和非免疫的固有、浸润和相互作用的细胞类型,TME 的细胞异质性导致其动态功能。本章讨论的相关免疫细胞包括巨噬细胞、树突状细胞(DCs)、自然杀伤(NK)细胞和肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞(TILs)。非免疫细胞也在 TME 的建立和增殖中发挥作用,包括神经内分泌(NE)细胞、脂肪细胞、内皮细胞(ECs)、间充质干细胞(MSCs)和成纤维细胞。TME 的动态性质对癌症的进展有很大的贡献。最近的研究发现,ATC 组织的特征是 T 细胞浸润的“热”肿瘤免疫微环境(TIME),证据是存在 CD3+和 CD8+T 细胞。这些肿瘤类型对免疫检查点阻断(ICB)治疗敏感。截至 2021 年,ATC 尚未探索这种治疗途径。新的研究应该寻求探索通过使用小分子抑制剂与 ICB 联合治疗 ATC 的治疗可行性。通过体外模型系统对甲状腺乳头状癌、间变性和滤泡性甲状腺癌进行筛选,研究了 29 种免疫检查点分子的表达。与其他 TC 亚型相比,ATC 细胞系中 HVEM、BTLA 和 CD160 的表达更高。与其他细胞系相比,ATC 中 HVEM 的表达水平高出 30 多倍。HVEM 是肿瘤坏死因子(TNF)受体超家族的成员,通过与 BTLA、CD160 和 LIGHT 相互作用,以顺式或反式方式充当双向开关。鉴于 ATC 中存在 T 细胞浸润的热 TIME,肿瘤细胞上 HVEM 的表达表明 HVEM 与炎症细胞因子之间可能存在复杂的串扰。总之,有越来越多的证据表明 ATC 中存在 T 细胞浸润的 TIME,以及 HVEM、BTLA 和 CD160 等免疫检查点蛋白在 ATC 中的表达。这为使用靶向 MAPK 通路下游效应子的小分子抑制剂和拮抗 HVEM/BTLA 轴的抗体作为 ATC 患者潜在可行的治疗途径打开了大门。尽管如此,针对靶向治疗的适应性耐药性是不可避免的;因此,使用针对 TME 的联合治疗可以作为针对 ATC 中所见特征性治疗耐药性的先发制人策略。TME 的动态性质,包括免疫细胞、非免疫细胞和无细胞成分,可以作为 ATC 联合治疗的可行靶点。了解这些相关细胞的复杂相互作用以及它们的分泌物和成分作为免疫调节剂的范例,对于试图开发专门针对间变性甲状腺癌微环境的治疗方法至关重要。
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