Dotse Eunice, Lim King H, Wang Meijun, Wijanarko Kevin Julio, Chow Kwan T
Department of Biomedical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China.
Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia.
Life (Basel). 2022 Feb 21;12(2):323. doi: 10.3390/life12020323.
Immune modulation is a hallmark of cancer. Cancer-immune interaction shapes the course of disease progression at every step of tumorigenesis, including metastasis, of which circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are regarded as an indicator. These CTCs are a heterogeneous population of tumor cells that have disseminated from the tumor into circulation. They have been increasingly studied in recent years due to their importance in diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of treatment response. Ample evidence demonstrates that CTCs interact with immune cells in circulation, where they must evade immune surveillance or modulate immune response. The interaction between CTCs and the immune system is emerging as a critical point by which CTCs facilitate metastatic progression. Understanding the complex crosstalk between the two may provide a basis for devising new diagnostic and treatment strategies. In this review, we will discuss the current understanding of CTCs and the complex immune-CTC interactions. We also present novel options in clinical interventions, targeting the immune-CTC interfaces, and provide some suggestions on future research directions.
免疫调节是癌症的一个标志。癌症与免疫的相互作用在肿瘤发生的每一步,包括转移过程中,都塑造着疾病进展的进程,其中循环肿瘤细胞(CTC)被视为一个指标。这些CTC是已经从肿瘤扩散进入循环的异质性肿瘤细胞群体。近年来,由于它们在诊断、预后和治疗反应监测方面的重要性,对其研究日益增多。大量证据表明,CTC在循环中与免疫细胞相互作用,在那里它们必须逃避免疫监视或调节免疫反应。CTC与免疫系统之间的相互作用正成为CTC促进转移进展的一个关键点。了解两者之间复杂的相互作用可能为设计新的诊断和治疗策略提供基础。在这篇综述中,我们将讨论目前对CTC以及复杂的免疫-CTC相互作用的理解。我们还介绍了针对免疫-CTC界面的临床干预新选择,并对未来的研究方向提出一些建议。