Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.
Department of General Surgery, Institute of General Surgery, Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University, Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital, Yangzhou, China.
Immunology. 2022 Sep;167(1):1-14. doi: 10.1111/imm.13496. Epub 2022 Jul 5.
Immunotherapy has shown promising efficacy in the treatment of a wide range of cancers; however, it has had little effect on pancreatic cancer. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), the predominant mesenchymal cells present in the pancreatic cancer microenvironment, are powerful supporters of the malignant progression of pancreatic cancer. CAFs can modify the microenvironment, establish a refuge to aid cancer cells in immune escape by secreting large amounts of extracellular matrix, and produce soluble cytokines and exosomal vesicles. Hence, CAFs are important contributors to the failure of immunotherapy. Current in-depth studies of CAFs have shown that CAFs are a heterogeneous population of mesenchymal cells; therefore, the functional complexity of their populations needs in-depth explorations in future studies. This review summarizes how heterogeneous CAFs help cancer cells achieve immune escape and suggests potential directions for using CAFs as targets to address immune escape.
免疫疗法在治疗多种癌症方面显示出了有前景的疗效；然而，它对胰腺癌几乎没有影响。癌症相关成纤维细胞（CAFs）是胰腺癌微环境中主要的间质细胞，是促进胰腺癌恶性进展的强大支持者。CAFs 可以改变微环境，通过大量分泌细胞外基质为癌细胞提供免疫逃逸的避难所，并产生可溶性细胞因子和外泌体囊泡。因此，CAFs 是导致免疫疗法失败的重要因素。目前对 CAFs 的深入研究表明，CAFs 是一群异质性的间充质细胞；因此，它们群体的功能复杂性需要在未来的研究中深入探索。本综述总结了异质性 CAFs 如何帮助癌细胞实现免疫逃逸，并提出了利用 CAFs 作为靶点来解决免疫逃逸的潜在方向。
