TUMOR-INFILTRATING DENDRITIC CELLS IN CANCER PATHOGENESIS1

Dendritic cells (DCs) play a pivotal role in the tumor microenvironment (TME), the latter of which is known to affect disease progression in many human malignancies. Infiltration by mature, active DCs into the tumors confers an increase in immune activation and recruitment of disease-fighting immune effector cells and pathways. DCs are the preferential target of infiltrating T cells. Tumor cells, however, have means of suppressing DC function or of altering the TME in such a way that immune suppressive DC are recruited. Advances in understanding these changes have led to promising developments in cancer therapeutic strategies targeting tumor-infiltrating DCs in order to subdue their immunosuppressive functions and enhance their immune stimulatory capacity.