Shimizu K, Okita R, Nakata M. Clinical significance of the tumor microenvironment in non-small cell lung cancer.
Ann Transl Med 2014;
1:20. [PMID:
25332964 DOI:
10.3978/j.issn.2305-5839.2013.06.01]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2013] [Accepted: 06/04/2013] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Several biomarkers have been reported as predictors of survival and recurrence in non-small cell lung cancer. Recently, several groups have demonstrated that the immune microenvironment of the primary tumors is a prognostic factor. These "immunological biomarkers" in the tumor microenvironment are useful predictors of prognosis as well as promising targets for novel therapeutic approaches. Especially, tumor-infiltrating Treg cells are a powerful immunological biomarker, and possible mechanisms involved in the induction of tumor-infiltrating Treg cells are the expression of Cox-2, IL-12Rβ2 or the lack of IL7R on the tumor cells. These findings may pave the way for individualized immunomodulatory therapies to deplete tumor-infiltrating Treg cells from the tumor microenvironment.
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