Hypoxia, a key factor in the immune microenvironment

The physical and chemical pressures in the tumor microenvironment (TME) play an important role in tumor development by regulating stromal elements, including immune cells. Hypoxia can induce a cascade of events in tumor initiation and development via immune regulation. As a dangerous factor, hypoxia activates multiple signaling pathways to reshape the immune microenvironment, leading to immunosuppression. Consequently, targeting hypoxia in the TME is a potential strategy to prevent immune escape and inhibit malignant tumor progression. In this review, we summarized the role of hypoxia-induced factors in the tumor immune escape process and provide a novel pathway to restrain tumor progression and development. [Display omitted] •Hypoxia is a common character in many solid tumors and involved in tumor progression and development.•Immune cell in tumor microenvironment is a large class of cell groups and is necessary for tumor treatment.•Hypoxia can regulate various immune cellular process leading to immune cell losing its function.•Targeting hypoxia to improve immune treatment is a novel and potential line.