Tumor immunotherapy has become a first line option for cancer treatment, a hot field in cancer research and a weapon to overcome cancer in the future. A series of tumor immunotherapeutic drugs have been approved and used in clinic. Also the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2018 was awarded to two immunologists who had made outstanding contributions to tumor immunotherapy, revealing the coming of immunotherapy age. This article outlines the hotspots and advances of tumor immunology and immunotherapy in 2018, including the discovery of new immune checkpoints, in-depth understanding of T cell exhaustion, discovery of new tumor immunosuppressive cell subsets, and exploration of new strategies for tumor immunotherapy. These studies will further promote the development of tumor immunotherapy and bring more effective treatments to cancer patients.
[1] Dougan M, Dranoff G. Immune therapy for cancer[J]. Annual Review of Immunology. 2009, 27:83-117.
[2] Burnet M. Cancer-A biological approach[J]. British Medical Journal, 1957, 1(5023):841-847.
[3] Steinman R M. Decisions about dendritic cells:Past, present, and future[J]. Annual Review of Immunology, 2012, 30(1):1-22.
[4] Wang J, Sanmamed M F, Datar I, et al. Fibrinogen-like protein 1 is a major immune inhibitory ligand of LAG-3[J]. Cell, 2018, doi:10.1016/j.cell.2018.11.010.
[5] Zhang Q, Bi J C, Zheng X D, et al. Blockade of the checkpoint receptor TIGIT prevents NK cell exhaustion and elicits potent anti-tumor immunity[J]. Nature Immunology, 2018, 19(7):723-732.
[6] Chihara N, Madi A, Kondo T, et al. Induction and transcriptional regulation of the co-inhibitory gene module in T cells[J]. Nature, 2018, 558(7710):454-459.
[7] Simoni Y, Becht E, Fehlings M, et al. Bystander CD8+ T cells are abundant and phenotypically distinct in human tumour infiltrates[J]. Nature, 2018, 557(7706):575-579.
[8] Scheper W, Kelderman S, Fanchi L F, et al. Low and variable tumor reactivity of the intratumoral TCR repertoire in human cancers[J]. Nature Medicine, 2018, doi:10.1038/s41591-018-0266-5.
[9] Han Y M, Liu Q Y, Hou J, et al. Tumor-induced generation of splenic erythroblast-like Ter-cells promotes tumor progression[J]. Cell, 2018, 173(3):634-648.
[10] Zhao L T, He R, Long H X, et al. Late-stage tumors induce anemia and immunosuppressive extramedullary erythroid progenitor cells[J]. Nature Medicine, 2018, 24(10):1536-1544.
[11] Liu Y Y, Liang X Y, Yin X N, et al. Blockade of IDO-kynurenine-AhR metabolic circuitry abrogates IFN-γ-induced immunologic dormancy of tumor-repopulating cells[J]. Nature Communications, 2017, 8:15207.
[12] Liu Y Y, Lv J D, Liu J Y, et al. STAT3/p53 pathway activation disrupts IFN-β-induced dormancy in tumor-repopulating cells[J]. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2018, 128(3):1057-1073.
[13] Liu Y Y, Lv J D, Liang X Y, et al. 3D fibrin stiffness mediates dormancy of tumor-repopulating cells via a Cdc42-driven Tet2 epigenetic program[J]. Cancer Research, 2018, 78(14):3926-3937.
[14] Liu Y Y, Liang X Y, Dong W Q, et al. Tumor repopulating cells induce PD-1 expression in CD8+ T cells by transferring kynurenine and AhR activation[J]. Cancer Cell, 2018, 33(3):480-494.
