Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 May 17:13:3973-3980.
doi: 10.2147/CMAR.S277907. eCollection 2021.

Further Understanding of the Immune Microenvironment in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Implications for Prognosis

Nerina Denaro  1 , Marco Carlo Merlano  1 , Cristiana Lo Nigro  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Further Understanding of the Immune Microenvironment in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Implications for Prognosis

Nerina Denaro et al. Cancer Manag Res. .

Abstract

Purpose: We aimed to review the literature on the tumor microenvironment as a key player in tumor growth and anti-cancer treatment responses in head and neck cancer.

Patients and methods: We reviewed the recent literature on this topic, using the following research words: "tumor microenvironment" and "head and neck cancer or neoplasm or head and neck squamous cell carcinoma" and "immune cells" and "stromal cells". A search was conducted on the PubMed website and reports from international meetings, presentations and abstracts.

Results: The tumor microenvironment is a complex network in which myeloid cells, tumoral cells, growth factors and cytokines are involved in angiogenesis, the extracellular matrix and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.

Conclusion: Immune resistance and rapid tumor growth depend on immunosuppressive and pro-tumoral environments. Further investigations to classify and adequately treat patients with head and neck cancer are required.

Keywords: head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; immune microenvironment; prognosis; treatment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Actors in the TME.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Function of MDSCs. Suppression of CD8+, NK cells, inhibition of humoral cells, differentiation into M2 macrophages, induction of differentiation and expansion of T-regs.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Immune metabolism and tumor microenvironment. Markers of the TME include hypoxia, low pH, oxidative stress, inhibition of apoptosis and immune mediators. Hypoxia induces upregulation of arginase 1, iNOS, IL-10, TGF-β and PD-L1. In the TME, oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) is increased.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Merlano MC, Denaro N, Galizia D, Garrone O. How I treat squamous ENT cancer. ESMO Open. 2019;4(Suppl 2):e000542. doi:10.1136/esmoopen-2019-000542 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Economopoulou P, Kotsantis I, Psyrri A. Tumor microenvironment and immunotherapy response in head and neck cancer. Cancers. 2020;12(11):3377. doi:10.3390/cancers12113377 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chalmers ZR, Connelly CF, Fabrizio D, et al. Analysis of 100,000 human cancer genomes reveals the landscape of tumor mutational burden. Genome Med. 2017;9(1):34. doi:10.1186/s13073-017-0424-2 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pries R, Wollenberg B. Cytokines in head and neck cancer. Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 2006;17(3):141–146. doi:10.1016/j.cytogfr.2006.02.001 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Veglia F, Perego M, Gabrilovich D. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells coming of age. Nat Immunol. 2018;19(2):108–119. doi:10.1038/s41590-017-0022-x - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources