What is Immunosurveillance?
Immunosurveillance refers to the immune system's ability to detect and destroy malignant cells in the body. This critical process helps in the early recognition and elimination of
cancerous cells, thereby preventing the development and progression of cancer.
Immune Evasion: Cancer cells can develop mechanisms to evade immune detection, such as reducing antigen presentation or increasing the expression of immune checkpoint proteins like
PD-L1.
Immunosuppression: The tumor microenvironment often contains immunosuppressive factors that inhibit the activity of immune cells.
Genetic Mutations: Mutations in cancer cells can lead to the loss of recognizable antigens, rendering them invisible to the immune system.
Checkpoint Inhibitors: These drugs block immune checkpoint proteins, thereby enhancing T cell activity against cancer cells.
CAR-T Cell Therapy: This involves genetically engineering T cells to better recognize and attack cancer cells.
Cancer Vaccines: These vaccines stimulate the immune system to target specific cancer antigens.
Resistance: Some tumors develop resistance to immunotherapy, necessitating the development of combination therapies.
Toxicity: Enhancing immune responses can sometimes lead to autoimmune reactions and other toxicities.
Personalization: Tailoring immunotherapy to individual patient profiles remains a significant challenge.
Future research aims to address these hurdles by developing more effective and personalized immunotherapy approaches, enhancing our understanding of the tumor microenvironment, and discovering new biomarkers for better patient stratification.
