Laise Pasquale, Bosker Gideon, Babor Mariana, Sun Xiaoyun, Andrews Stuart, Tomassoni Lorenzo, Califano Andrea, Alvarez Mariano
DarwinHealth Inc, New York, New York, USA
Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA.
J Immunother Cancer. 2025 Jun 24;13(6):e011355. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2024-011355.
Abrogating the immunoevasive role of the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) represents a critical yet still elusive challenge in cancer treatment. Progress in this area has been hampered by both technological limitations and incomplete understanding of TIME-dependent immunoevasion mechanisms. We hypothesize that the immune-evasive role of TIME subpopulations-including regulatory T cells, cancer-associated fibroblasts, and tumor-associated macrophages-is critically mediated by hyperconnected Master Regulator Checkpoint (MRC) modules whose aberrant activity, as induced by paracrine signals, can be abrogated or modulated either genetically or pharmacologically. MRCs are primarily composed of transcription and co-transcription factors, acting downstream of surface receptors and signal transduction cascades to control the transcriptional identity and, ultimately, the phenotype of individual TIME subpopulations. Pharmacological inhibition of subpopulation-specific MRC proteins can thus help reprogram the TIME and potentially abrogate or modulate its immunosuppressive state. This paradigm shift, away from single ligand/receptor targeting, is supported by recent algorithmic, experimental, and clinical advances allowing systematic identification of MRCs and their pharmacological modulators using systems immunology-based approaches. Refocusing the deployment of existing tools and experimental methods that have proven successful in tumor cell contexts to identify and validate MRC-targeting agents capable of remodeling the immunosuppressive cell states of the tumor microenvironment can potentially pave the road to novel combination therapy synergizing with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
消除肿瘤免疫微环境(TIME)的免疫逃逸作用是癌症治疗中一项关键但仍难以实现的挑战。该领域的进展受到技术限制以及对TIME依赖性免疫逃逸机制理解不全面的阻碍。我们假设,TIME亚群(包括调节性T细胞、癌症相关成纤维细胞和肿瘤相关巨噬细胞)的免疫逃逸作用主要由高度连接的主调节检查点(MRC)模块介导,其异常活性由旁分泌信号诱导,可通过基因或药理学方法消除或调节。MRC主要由转录因子和共转录因子组成,作用于表面受体和信号转导级联的下游,以控制转录特征,并最终控制单个TIME亚群的表型。因此,对亚群特异性MRC蛋白的药理学抑制可有助于重新编程TIME,并可能消除或调节其免疫抑制状态。这种从单一配体/受体靶向的范式转变得到了最近算法、实验和临床进展的支持,这些进展允许使用基于系统免疫学的方法系统地识别MRC及其药理学调节剂。将在肿瘤细胞环境中已证明成功的现有工具和实验方法重新部署,以识别和验证能够重塑肿瘤微环境免疫抑制细胞状态的MRC靶向药物,这有可能为与免疫检查点抑制剂协同作用的新型联合疗法铺平道路。
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