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Publication year
2010Source
Gynecologic Oncology, 117, 2, (2010), pp. 366-72ISSN
Annotation
01 mei 2010
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor
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Organization
Gynaecology
Tumorimmunology
Journal title
Gynecologic Oncology
Volume
vol. 117
Issue
iss. 2
Page start
p. 366
Page end
p. 72
Subject
NCMLS 3: Tissue engineering and pathology; ONCOL 3: Translational researchAbstract
BACKGROUND: Considering the high mortality rate of ovarian cancer due to the absence of curative treatment in advanced stage or at recurrence, new therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. Immunotherapy is one of these strategies that yielded promising results in fundamental and animal research in the past years. However, implementation in clinical practice remains poor. The aim of this review is to gain insight into the mechanisms of interaction between ovarian cancer and the immune system in order to develop better immunotherapeutic strategies. METHODS: We searched the published literature for studies focusing on interactions between ovarian cancer and the immune system, with emphasis on outcome data in order to create a knowledge base that is well grounded in clinical reality. RESULTS: The immunological response against cancer is a critical balance between immune-activating and immune-suppressing mechanisms. Besides the immune-activating tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), immune-suppressive regulatory T-cells (Tregs), tolerance-inducing plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), B7-H4+ macrophages, immune-suppressive cytokines such as IL10 and TGF-beta are also found in the tumor environment. Myeloid-derived suppressive cells (MDSCs) are recently found to have a significant role in immune suppression in ovarian cancer in murine studies. Furthermore, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is also known to have an immune-suppressing role besides its angiogenic role. All those concerted mechanisms result in the creation of an environment where the cancer is invincible and can grow unhampered. CONCLUSION: Further knowledge of the mechanisms involved is needed to develop better strategies and improve the clinical applicability of immunotherapy. Effective immunotherapy must combine immune-activating strategies with elimination of immune-suppressing mechanisms. We believe that tilting the balance from an immune-suppressive to an immune-active environment may have an enormous impact on the disease.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Academic publications [238441]
- Electronic publications [122537]
- Faculty of Medical Sciences [90373]
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