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Review
. 2025 Jun:294-295:57-75.
doi: 10.1016/j.cancergen.2025.03.004. Epub 2025 Mar 20.

Identification of new immune target and signaling for cancer immunotherapy

Sakshi Narote  1 , Sharav A Desai  2 , Vipul P Patel  1 , Rutuja Deshmukh  1 , Nikita Raut  1 , Sejal Dapse  1
Affiliations
Review

Identification of new immune target and signaling for cancer immunotherapy

Sakshi Narote et al. Cancer Genet. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

Immunotherapy has become one of the innovative treatments in malignancy as it activates the immune system to find and eliminate malignant cells. The tumor immunology interface has become increasingly intricate, making the identification of new immune targets and signalling pathways on which to base improved therapeutic strategies an ongoing process. This review, we goal to clarify the contacts between cancer and immune system with a focus on immune surveillance as well as immune evasion mechanisms. Comprehensive immunotherapeutic therapies are overviewed with ICI (CTLA-4, PD-1, PD-L1), CAR-T cell therapy, and cancer vaccines whereas, advanced therapies targeting new immune checkpoints are also elucidated including TIM-3, LAG-3, and TIGIT. The JAK/STAT, MAPK and PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathways are reviewed with regards to cancer progression and immunotherapeutic resistance. The dysregulation of these pathways gives hope for the identification of fresh targets for therapy. Genomics, proteomics, immunopeptidomics, single cell mass spectrometry, CRISPR-based functional genomics and bioinformatics are described as essential for immune target identification and for mapping of cancer relevant signaling pathways. This review also considers some emerging issues in the subject area like the tumor heterogeneity, immune-related adverse events (irAEs), and personalized treatment. These barriers are described to facilitate the understanding of ways to overcome them and increase the efficacy of immunotherapies through combination therapies. This means that by developing new knowledge of immunological targets and pathways, immunoprecision medicine for cancer could greatly enhance outcomes.

Keywords: Cancer antigen targets; Cancer immunotherapy; Genomics; Immune checkpoint inhibitors; Proteomics.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no competing financial or personal interests that could have influenced or biased the work presented in this manuscript. Specifically, the authors confirm: No employment relationships relevant to this work. No consultancies relevant to this work. No stock ownership relevant to this work. No honoraria received relevant to this work. No paid expert testimony relevant to this work. No patent applications or registrations relevant to this work. No grants or any other funding received that could create a conflict of interest. The authors confirm that they have reviewed and understood the journal's policy on conflict of interest statements and have adhered to all requirements.

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