Dendritic cells in cancer: the role revisited

Dendritic cells (DCs) with their potent antigen presenting ability are long considered as critical factor in antitumor immunity. Despite high potential in promoting antitumor responses, tumor-associated DCs are largely defective in their functional activity and can contribute to immune suppression in cancer. In recent years existence of immune suppressive regulatory DCs in tumor microenvironment was described. Monocytic myeloid derived suppressor cells (M-MDSCs) can contribute to the pool of tumor associated DCs by differentiating to inflammatory DCs (inf-DCs), which appear to have specific phenotype and is critical component of antitumor response. Here we examine the role of inf-DCs along with other DC subsets in the regulation of immune responses in cancer. These novel data expand our view on the role of DCs in cancer and may provide new targets for immunotherapy.