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Fine-Tuning the Tumour Microenvironment: Current Perspectives on the Mechanisms of Tumour Immunosuppression

Immunotherapy has revolutionised the treatment of cancers by harnessing the power of the immune system to eradicate malignant tissue. However, it is well recognised that some cancers are highly resistant to these therapies, which is in part attributed to the immunosuppressive landscape of the tumour microenvironment (TME). The contexture of the TME is highly heterogeneous and contains a complex architecture of immune, stromal, vascular and tumour cells in addition to acellular components such as the extracellular matrix. While understanding the dynamics of the TME has been instrumental in predicting durable responses to immunotherapy and developing new treatment strategies, recent evidence challenges the fundamental paradigms of how tumours can effectively subvert immunosurveillance. Here, we discuss the various immunosuppressive features of the TME and how fine-tuning these mechanisms, rather than ablating them completely, may result in a more comprehensive and balanced anti-tumour response.

Researchers may have found key to preventing asthma

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Directing the future breakthroughs in immunotherapy: The importance of a holistic approach to the tumour microenvironment

Immunotherapy has revolutionised the treatment of cancers by exploiting the immune system to eliminate tumour cells. Despite the impressive response in a proportion of patients, clinical benefit has been limited thus far.

Effect of human rhinovirus infection on airway epithelium tight junction protein disassembly and transepithelial permeability

HRV-1B infection directly alters human airway epithelial TJ expression leading to increased epithelial permeability potentially via antiviral response of IL-15

Towards a PBMC "virogram assay" for precision medicine: Concordance between ex vivo and in vivo viral infection transcriptomes

In this rhinovirus study, we first hypothesized that ex vivo human cells response to virus can serve as a proxy for otherwise controversial in vivo human...

Using Systems Biology to understand asthma exacerbations and develop better treatments

Alexander Anthony Deborah Pat Larcombe Kicic Strickland Holt BScEnv (Hons) PhD BSc (Hons) PhD PhD PhD, DSc, FRCPath, FRCPI, FAA Honorary Research

Acute viral bronchiolitis in infants and young children

Anya Deborah Pat Jones Strickland Holt BSc MSc PhD PhD PhD, DSc, FRCPath, FRCPI, FAA Honorary Research Associate Head, Pregnancy and Early Life

In utero exposure to arsenic alters lung development and genes related to immune and mucociliary function in mice

In utero exposure to arsenic via drinking water increases the risk of lower respiratory tract infections during infancy and mortality from bronchiectasis in...

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccination at birth in a high-risk setting: No evidence for neonatal T-cell tolerance

Concerns about the risk of inducing immune deviation-associated "neonatal tolerance" as described in mice have restricted the widespread adoption...

Upper Airway Cell Transcriptomics Identify a Major New Immunological Phenotype with Strong Clinical Correlates in Young Children with Acute Wheezing

Asthma exacerbations in children can be divided into IRF7hi versus IRF7lo phenotypes with associated differences in clinical phenotypes