Cancer immune evasion, immunoediting and intratumor heterogeneity
Cancer cells evade the immune system to survive by modulating themselves in the tough microenvironment and thus show intratumor heterogeneity (ITH). They also acquire genetic and epigenetic changes leading to ITH.
Tumor cells that resist immune-mediated elimination undergo further diversification, which leads to increased ITH, whereas an increase in immune-mediated pressure can reduce ITH.
Different categories of immune evasion mechanisms can hinder immunoediting to varying extents, particularly in the context of regional or global mechanisms of immune evasion, including tissue-specific immune evasion.
The authors in this Review discuss the different ways that cancer cells evade the immune system and how these mechanisms impact immunoediting and tumor evolution. They also describe how subclonal antigen presentation in tumors with high ITH can result in immune evasion.
