One microenvironment does not fit all: heterogeneity beyond cancer cells

Human cancers exhibit formidable molecular heterogeneity, to a large extent accounting for the incomplete and transitory efficacy of current anti-cancer therapies. However, neoplastic cells alone do not manifest the disease, but conscript a battery of non-tumor cells to enable and sustain hallmark c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cancer and metastasis reviews 2016-12, Vol.35 (4), p.601-629
Main Authors: Kim, Ik Sun, Zhang, Xiang H.-F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Cancer
Cancer cells
Cancer Research
Care and treatment
Disease Progression
Genetic Heterogeneity
Health aspects
Humans
Immunotherapy
Macrophages - immunology
Macrophages - pathology
Metastasis
Neoplasms - blood supply
Neoplasms - genetics
Neoplasms - immunology
Neoplasms - pathology
Oncology
Tumor Microenvironment - genetics
Tumor Microenvironment - immunology
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Summary:Human cancers exhibit formidable molecular heterogeneity, to a large extent accounting for the incomplete and transitory efficacy of current anti-cancer therapies. However, neoplastic cells alone do not manifest the disease, but conscript a battery of non-tumor cells to enable and sustain hallmark capabilities of cancer. Escaping immunosurveillance is one of such capabilities. Tumors evolve immunosuppressive microenvironment to subvert anti-tumor immunity. In this review, we will focus on tumor-associated myeloid cells, which constitute an essential part of the immune microenvironment and reciprocally interact with cancer cells to establish malignancy toward metastasis. The diversity and plasticity of these cells constitute another layer of heterogeneity, beyond the heterogeneity of cancer cells themselves. We envision that immune microenvironment co-evolves with the genetic heterogeneity of tumor. Addressing the question of how genetically distinct tumors shape and are shaped by unique immune microenvironment will provide an attractive rationale to develop novel immunotherapeutic modalities. Here, we discuss the complex nature of tumor microenvironment, with an emphasis on the cellular and functional heterogeneity among tumor-associated myeloid cells as well as immune environment heterogeneity in the context of a full spectrum of human breast cancers.
ISSN:0167-7659
1573-7233
DOI:10.1007/s10555-016-9643-z