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Spontaneous immune responses to sporadic tumors: tumor-promoting, tumor-protective or both?

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Abstract

Cancer cells cannot develop into invasive cancers without interactions with cells and soluble mediators present in the tumor microenvironment. Accumulating evidence indicates that the immune system is a critical determinant of malignant outgrowth; however, the tumor-modulating effects of spontaneous immune responses towards nascent malignancies are rather paradoxical. Both cancer-protective and cancer-promoting features of the immune system have been described. This review will discuss the role of the dynamic inflammatory tumor microenvironment during cancer development and progression, and will focus on the intriguing question: “Do malignancies develop in spite of—or because of—spontaneous immune responses?” Special emphasis will be put on recent progress in our understanding of the immune system’s double-edged sword function during de novo carcinogenesis.

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Acknowledgments

I thank Dr. Michiel de Bruin and Dr. Jos Jonkers for critically reading this manuscript. KEdV is supported by a grant from the Dutch Cancer Society (NKI2006-3715).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Karin E. de Visser

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  1. Karin E. de Visser
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Correspondence to Karin E. de Visser.

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This article is a symposium paper from the conference “The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the European Society for Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy (ESCII) International Symposium on Immunology”, held in Athens, Greece, on 15–17 November 2007.

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de Visser, K.E. Spontaneous immune responses to sporadic tumors: tumor-promoting, tumor-protective or both?. Cancer Immunol Immunother 57, 1531–1539 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-008-0501-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-008-0501-x

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