Research progress on the immune microenvironment and immunotherapy in gastric cancer

Abstract

The tumor microenvironment, particularly the immune microenvironment, plays an indispensable role in the malignant progression and metastasis of gastric cancer (GC). As our understanding of the GC microenvironment continues to evolve, we are gaining deeper insights into the biological mechanisms at the single-cell level. This, in turn, has offered fresh perspectives on GC therapy. Encouragingly, there are various monotherapy and combination therapies in use, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, adoptive cell transfer therapy, chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, antibody-drug conjugates, and cancer vaccines. In this paper, we review the current research progress regarding the GC microenvironment and summarize promising immunotherapy research and targeted therapies.

Keywords: gastric cancer; immune microenvironment; immunity; immunotherapy; single-cell sequencing.

Figure 1

Immune cells (tumor-associated neutrophils, macrophages, T cells, and NK cells) in gastric cancer immune microenvironment. IFN-γ, interferon-gamma; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; IL, interleukin; TGF-β, transforming growth factor β; PTX-3, pentraxin-3; ELK4, ETS-like transcription factor 4; CaM 2, calmodulin 2; POU1F1, POU class 1 homeobox 1; Treg, regulatory T cell; TNFR2, tumor necrosis factor receptor 2; MAPK, mitogen-activated protein kinase; ANGPT2, angiopoietin-2; NET, neutrophil extracellular traps; ECM, extracellular matrix; MT1-MMP, membrane-type 1 matrix metalloproteinase; MICA, major histocompatibility complex class I chain-related A; YAP, yes-associated protein; DAPK1, death-associated protein kinase 1;TLR2, toll-like receptor 2; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor-alpha.