Hegoburu Adèle, Amer Mohammad, Frizelle Frank, Purcell Rachel
Department of Surgery and Critical Care, Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka/University of Otago, Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand.
BJC Rep. 2025 May 28;3(1):40. doi: 10.1038/s44276-025-00146-1.
Recent advances in immuno-oncology research have revolutionised our understanding of the interplay between immune cells and the tumour microenvironment (TME), profoundly impacting patient responses to therapy. The TME, comprising tumour cells, immune cells, extracellular matrix, stromal cells, and co-existing microbes, orchestrates the immune phenotype of cancers, shaping disease progression and treatment outcomes. Immune-cell infiltration serves as a significant prognostic marker in various cancers, with higher rates correlating with improved prognosis. Recent discoveries have paved the way for immune checkpoint blockade therapies, which exhibit remarkable efficacy across multiple cancer types. However, understanding the nuanced contributions of different immune-cell populations to therapeutic responses remains a challenge. The majority of research has focussed on the role of T cells in the immune response to cancer therapies, with the potential importance of B cells only recently being recognised. Here, we review the diverse phenotypes of B cells within the TME, their structural organisation within tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS), and the role of both B cells and TLS in cancer prognosis and response to different therapies for cancer treatment.
免疫肿瘤学研究的最新进展彻底改变了我们对免疫细胞与肿瘤微环境(TME)之间相互作用的理解,对患者的治疗反应产生了深远影响。TME由肿瘤细胞、免疫细胞、细胞外基质、基质细胞和共存微生物组成,它协调癌症的免疫表型,影响疾病进展和治疗结果。免疫细胞浸润是多种癌症的重要预后标志物,浸润率越高,预后越好。最近的发现为免疫检查点阻断疗法铺平了道路,该疗法在多种癌症类型中都显示出显著疗效。然而,了解不同免疫细胞群体对治疗反应的细微贡献仍然是一项挑战。大多数研究都集中在T细胞在癌症治疗免疫反应中的作用,而B细胞的潜在重要性直到最近才被认识到。在这里,我们综述了TME内B细胞的不同表型、它们在三级淋巴结构(TLS)中的组织结构,以及B细胞和TLS在癌症预后和对不同癌症治疗疗法反应中的作用。