TY - JOUR
T1 - Endometrial Cancer Immune Escape Mechanisms
T2 - Let Us Learn From the Fetal–Maternal Interface
AU - Bruno, Valentina
AU - Corrado, Giacomo
AU - Baci, Denisa
AU - Chiofalo, Benito
AU - Carosi, Maria Antonia
AU - Ronchetti, Livia
AU - Piccione, Emilio
AU - Albini, Adriana
AU - Noonan, Douglas M.
AU - Piaggio, Giulia
AU - Vizza, Enrico
N1 - Funding Information:
This manuscript is partially supported by funds from the Regina Elena National Cancer Institute to GP, Italian Ministry of University and Research PRIN 2017 grant 2017NTK4HY to DN, and Regione Campania PG/2018/0494374 Advise grant to AA. DB is a recipient of a fellowship as senior post doc from The Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR).
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2020 Bruno, Corrado, Baci, Chiofalo, Carosi, Ronchetti, Piccione, Albini, Noonan, Piaggio and Vizza.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/3/12
Y1 - 2020/3/12
N2 - The immune escape mechanisms at the base of tumor progression in endometrial cancer mimic immune tolerance mechanisms occurring at the maternal–fetal interface. The biological and immunological processes behind the maternal–fetal interface are finely tuned in time and space during embryo implantation and subsequent pregnancy stages; conversely, those behind cancer progression are often aberrant. The environment composition at the maternal–fetal interface parallels the pro-tumor microenvironment identified in many cancers, pointing to the possibility for the use of the maternal–fetal interface as a model to depict immune therapeutic targets in cancer. The framework of cancer environment signatures involved in immune adaptations, precisely timed in cancer progression, could reveal a specific “immune clock” in endometrial cancer, which might guide clinicians in patient risk class assessment, diagnostic workup, management, surgical and therapeutic approach, and surveillance strategies. Here, we review studies approaching this hypothesis, focusing on what is known so far about oncofetal similarities in immunity with the idea to individualize personalized immunotherapy targets, through the downregulation of the immune escape stage or the reactivation of the pro-inflammatory processes suppressed by the tumor.
AB - The immune escape mechanisms at the base of tumor progression in endometrial cancer mimic immune tolerance mechanisms occurring at the maternal–fetal interface. The biological and immunological processes behind the maternal–fetal interface are finely tuned in time and space during embryo implantation and subsequent pregnancy stages; conversely, those behind cancer progression are often aberrant. The environment composition at the maternal–fetal interface parallels the pro-tumor microenvironment identified in many cancers, pointing to the possibility for the use of the maternal–fetal interface as a model to depict immune therapeutic targets in cancer. The framework of cancer environment signatures involved in immune adaptations, precisely timed in cancer progression, could reveal a specific “immune clock” in endometrial cancer, which might guide clinicians in patient risk class assessment, diagnostic workup, management, surgical and therapeutic approach, and surveillance strategies. Here, we review studies approaching this hypothesis, focusing on what is known so far about oncofetal similarities in immunity with the idea to individualize personalized immunotherapy targets, through the downregulation of the immune escape stage or the reactivation of the pro-inflammatory processes suppressed by the tumor.
KW - cancer immune escape
KW - fetal–maternal immune tolerance
KW - immunological parallelism in cancer and pregnancy
KW - immunotherapy potential targets
KW - personalized medicine
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U2 - 10.3389/fonc.2020.00156
DO - 10.3389/fonc.2020.00156
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85082669933
VL - 10
JO - Frontiers in Oncology
JF - Frontiers in Oncology
SN - 2234-943X
M1 - 156
ER -