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Simple Summary: As a solid tumor, melanoma is not only a tumor mass of monolithic tumor cells, but it also contains supporting stroma, extracellular matrix (ECM), and soluble molecules forming the widely recognized tumor microenvironment. The main components of the tumor microenvironment include stromal cells (endothelial cells, fibroblasts, mesenchymal stem cells, and immune cells), ECM, and soluble molecules (chemokines, cytokines, growth factors, and extracellular vesicles). The tumor microenvironment has been suggested to play a central role in tumor progression and treatment resistance. Accumulated evidence indicates that tumor maintenance, progression, and treatment resistance are determined by components of the microenvironment. Thus, targeting the components of the tumor microenvironment may have a therapeutic impact on melanoma treatment. The main topic of this paper deals with the main components of the tumor microenvironment and their impact as therapeutic targets in melanoma treatment. The role of the tumor microenvironment in tumor growth and therapy has recently attracted more attention in research and drug development. The ability of the microenvironment to trigger tumor maintenance, progression, and resistance is the main cause for treatment failure and tumor relapse. Accumulated evidence indicates that the maintenance and progression of tumor cells is determined by components of the microenvironment, which include stromal cells (endothelial cells, fibroblasts, mesenchymal stem cells, and immune cells), extracellular matrix (ECM), and soluble molecules (chemokines, cytokines, growth factors, and extracellular vesicles). As a solid tumor, melanoma is not only a tumor mass of monolithic tumor cells, but it also contains supporting stroma, ECM, and soluble molecules. Melanoma cells are continuously in interaction with the components of the microenvironment. In the present review, we focus on the role of the tumor microenvironment components in the modulation of tumor progression and treatment resistance as well as the impact of the tumor microenvironment as a therapeutic target in melanoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Cancer in the head and neck region (HNSCC) is exponentially increasing due to human papillomavirus (HPV) infections. This paper helps us to understand the complexity of the inflammatory networks and the mechanisms of immune evasion in HPV+ HNSCC to open up new avenues and drive the discovery of useful tools to be translated clinically in the screening and treatment of these cases, especially to overcome resistance and improve patients' quality of life. Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) are a heterogeneous group of malignancies which have shown exponential incidence in the last two decades especially due to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. The HPV family comprises more than 100 types of viruses with HPV16 and HPV18 being the most prevalent strains in HNSCC. Literature data reveal that the mutation profile as well as the response to chemotherapy and radiotherapy are distinct among HPV+ versus HPV-negative tumors. Furthermore, the presence of the virus induces activation of an immune response, in particular the recruitment of specific antiviral T lymphocytes to tumor sites. These T cells when activated produce soluble factors including cytokines and chemokines capable of modifying the local immune tumor microenvironment and impact on tumor response to the treatment. In this comprehensive review we investigated current knowledge on how the presence of an HPV can modify the inflammatory response systemically and within the tumor microenvironment's immunological responses, thereby impacting on disease prognosis and survival. We highlighted the research gaps and emerging approaches necessary to discover novel immunotherapeutic targets for HPV-associated HNSCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ubiquitous protein kinase CK2 has been demonstrated to be overexpressed in a number of human tumours. This enzyme is composed of two catalytic α or α' subunits and a dimer of β regulatory subunits whose expression levels are probably implicated in CK2 regulation. Several recent papers reported that unbalanced expression of CK2 subunits is sufficient to drive epithelial to mesenchymal transition, a process involved in cancer invasion and metastasis. Herein, through transcriptomic and miRNA analysis together with comparison of cellular properties between wild type and CKβ-knock-down MCF10A cells, we show that down-regulation of CKβ subunit in mammary epithelial cells induces the acquisition of stem cell-like properties associated with perturbed polarity, CD44high/CD24low antigenic phenotype and the ability to grow under anchorage-independent conditions. These data demonstrate that a CK2β level establishes a critical cell fate threshold in the control of epithelial cell plasticity. Thus, this regulatory subunit functions as a nodal protein to maintain an epithelial phenotype and its depletion drives breast cell stemness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: (CAR)-T cell-based therapies have achieved substantial success against different haematological malignancies. However, results for solid tumours have been limited up to now, in part due to the fact that the immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment inactivates CAR-T cell clones. In this paper we study mathematically the competition of CAR-T and tumour cells, taking into account their immunosuppressive capacity. Using computer simulations, we show that the use of large numbers of CAR-T cells targetting the solid tumour antigens could overcome the immunosuppressive potential of cancer. To achieve such high levels of CAR-T cells we propose, and study in silico, the manufacture and injection of CAR-T cells targetting two antigens: CD19 and a tumour-associated antigen. This strategy lead in our simulations to the expansion of the CAR-T cells injected and the production of a massive army of CAR-T cells targetting the solid tumour, and potentially overcoming its immune suppression capabilities. Thus, our proposed strategy could provide a way to develop successful CAR-T cell therapies against solid tumours. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell-based therapies have achieved substantial success against B-cell malignancies, which has led to a growing scientific and clinical interest in extending their use to solid cancers. However, results for solid tumours have been limited up to now, in part due to the immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment, which is able to inactivate CAR-T cell clones. In this paper we put forward a mathematical model describing the competition of CAR-T and tumour cells, taking into account their immunosuppressive capacity. Using the mathematical model, we show that the use of large numbers of CAR-T cells targetting the solid tumour antigens could overcome the immunosuppressive potential of cancer. To achieve such high levels of CAR-T cells we propose, and study computationally, the manufacture and injection of CAR-T cells targetting two antigens: CD19 and a tumour-associated antigen. We study in silico the resulting dynamics of the disease after the injection of this product and find that the expansion of the CAR-T cell population in the blood and lymphopoietic organs could lead to the massive production of an army of CAR-T cells targetting the solid tumour, and potentially overcoming its immune suppression capabilities. This strategy could benefit from the combination with PD-1 inhibitors and low tumour loads. Our computational results provide theoretical support for the treatment of different types of solid tumours using T cells engineered with combination treatments of dual CARs with on- and off-tumour activity and anti-PD-1 drugs after completion of classical cytoreductive treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone tumor and has a poor prognosis. Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanism of the development of osteosarcoma to overcome therapy resistance. Several mathematical models have been developed to study the initiation and progression of many cancer types. However, there are currently no mathematical models for the progression of osteosarcoma, to the best of our knowledge. In this work, we develop a data-driven mathematical model to analyze the impact of the immune cell interactions on the growth of osteosarcoma tumors that have distinct immune patterns. Our model provides a foundation for investigating the effect of various treatments on the dynamics of key players in the primary tumor, including immune cells and cytokines, and ultimately the whole tumor. As the immune system has a significant role in tumor progression, in this paper, we develop a data-driven mathematical model to study the interactions between immune cells and the osteosarcoma microenvironment. Osteosarcoma tumors are divided into three clusters based on their relative abundance of immune cells as estimated from their gene expression profiles. We then analyze the tumor progression and effects of the immune system on cancer growth in each cluster. Cluster 3, which had approximately the same number of naive and M2 macrophages, had the slowest tumor growth, and cluster 2, with the highest population of naive macrophages, had the highest cancer population at the steady states. We also found that the fastest growth of cancer occurred when the anti-tumor immune cells and cytokines, including dendritic cells, helper T cells, cytotoxic cells, and IFN- γ , switched from increasing to decreasing, while the dynamics of regulatory T cells switched from decreasing to increasing. Importantly, the most impactful immune parameters on the number of cancer and total cells were the activation and decay rates of the macrophages and regulatory T cells for all clusters. This work presents the first osteosarcoma progression model, which can be later extended to investigate the effectiveness of various osteosarcoma treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) constitute a paradigm shift in cancer therapy, and it has greatly expanded our knowledge of anticancer immunity and has introduced breakthroughs in cancer therapy. However, despite the promising results in the use of immunotherapy in some cancers, numerous patients do not respond to ICIs without the existence of a clear predictive biomarker. This review provides an overview of recent advances in cellular and molecular factors within the tumor microenvironment (TME) to identify possible mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance, as well as to develop novel combination strategies for cancer immunotherapy. The in-depth exploration of complexity within the TME allows for the improvement of therapeutic efficacy and highlights its contribution to cancer immunotherapy. Immune checkpoints play critical roles in the regulation of T-cell effector function, and the effectiveness of their inhibitors in cancer therapy has been established. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) constitute a paradigm shift in cancer therapy in general and cancer immunotherapy in particular. Immunotherapy has been indicated to reinvigorate antitumor T-cell activity and dynamically modulate anticancer immune responses. However, despite the promising results in the use of immunotherapy in some cancers, numerous patients do not respond to ICIs without the existence of a clear predictive biomarker. Overall, immunotherapy involves a certain degree of uncertainty and complexity. Research on the exploration of cellular and molecular factors within the tumor microenvironment (TME) aims to identify possible mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance, as well as to develop novel combination strategies involving the specific targeting of the TME for cancer immunotherapy. The combination of this approach with other types of treatment, including immune checkpoint blockade therapy involving multiple agents, most of the responses and effects in cancer therapy could be significantly enhanced, but the appropriate combinations have yet to be established. Moreover, the in-depth exploration of complexity within the TME allows for the exploration of pathways of immune dysfunction. It may also aid in the identification of new therapeutic targets. This paper reviews recent advances in the improvement of therapeutic efficacy on the immune context of the TME and highlights its contribution to cancer immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Combination of radiotherapy and immunotherapy to antagonize tumors is one of hotspot issues currently. Immunotherapy can effectively alleviate the non-lasting effect of radiotherapy and tumor recurrence. Local radiotherapy can mobilize immune cells into tumor microenvironment and make tumors unable to escape from immune supervision. Therefore, the radio-immunotherapy achieves better curative effects on cancer patients. We have reviewed the regulation of multiple immune cells with different functions by radiotherapy, as well as the mechanism research and clinical outcomes combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors for cancer treatment, which provides new insights in the treatment strategies for certain types of cancer patients in clinic. Radiotherapy (RT) is a conventional method for clinical treatment of local tumors, which can induce tumor-specific immune response and cause the shrinkage of primary tumor and distal metastases via mediating tumor infiltration of CD8+ T cells. Ionizing radiation (IR) induced tumor regression outside the radiation field is termed as abscopal effect. However, due to the mobilization of immunosuppressive signals by IR, the activated CD8+T cells are not sufficient to maintain a long-term positive feedback to make the tumors regress completely. Eventually, the "hot" tumors gradually turn to "cold". With the advent of emerging immunotherapy, the combination of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) and local RT has produced welcome changes in stubborn metastases, especially anti-PD-1/PD-L1 and anti-CTLA-4 which have been approved in clinical cancer treatment. However, the detailed mechanism of the abscopal effect induced by combined therapy is still unclear. Therefore, how to formulate a therapeutic schedule to maximize the efficacy should be took into consideration according to specific circumstance. This paper reviewed the recent research progresses in immunomodulatory effects of local radiotherapy on the tumor microenvironment, as well as the unique advantage for abscopal effect when combined with ICB, with a view to exploring the potential application value of radioimmunotherapy in clinic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]