Role of tumor microenvironment in cancer progression and therapeutic strategy

Cancer is now considered a tumor microenvironment (TME) disease, although it was originally thought to be a cell and gene expression disorder. Over the past 20 years, significant advances have been made in understanding the complexity of the TME and its impact on responses to various anticancer therapies, including immunotherapies. Cancer immunotherapy can recognize and kill cancer cells by regulating the body's immune system. It has achieved good therapeutic effects in various solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Recently, blocking of programmed death-1 (PD-1), programmed death-1 ligand-1 (PD-L1), and programmed death Ligand-2 (PD-L2), the construction of antigen chimeric T cells (CAR-T) and tumor vaccines have become popular immunotherapies Tumorigenesis, progression, and metastasis are closely related to TME. Therefore, we review the characteristics of various cells and molecules in the TME, the interaction between PD-1 and TME, and promising cancer immunotherapy therapeutics.

Automated summary

Cancer is now recognized as a disease influenced by the tumor microenvironment (TME) rather than just a cellular and genetic disorder. Significant progress has been made in understanding the complexity of the TME and its impact on various anticancer therapies, particularly immunotherapies. Immunotherapy has shown promising therapeutic effects in treating solid tumors and hematological malignancies by leveraging the body's immune system to target and eliminate cancer cells. Recent advancements include the use of PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors, CAR-T cell therapy, and tumor vaccines. The TME plays a crucial role in tumor development, progression, and metastasis, making it an important focus for cancer immunotherapy research.