An investigation into the mechanisms of immunosuppressive phenomenon of tumor Microenvironment

Accumulating evidence in recent years has pointed out the importance of the immunosuppression in tumor microenvironment in protecting tumor from immune attack. Based on these, one possible strategy for tumor immunotherapy is to reverse the immunosuppression in tumor microenvironment. The longterm goal of our group is to develop an effective immunotherapy for cancer treatment. For achieving this goal, it is unavoidable to understand the nderlying mechanisms of immunosuppressive phenomenon in the tumor microenvironment. From our preliminary data, we have found the CD8+T cells in the tumor microenvironment were still functional but unable to inhibit the tumor growth. Based on these results, we proposed a hypothesis that the immunosuppression of tumor microenvironment is the main player in the hindrance for the effective anti-tumor immunity. Current proposal is aiming to characterize the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment and contribution of tumor cells to this immunosuppression. For achieving this goal, we proposed the following research steps: (1) to investigate the role of apoptosis of CD8+T cells in the tumor microenvironments for evading tumor from immune attack; (2) to study the mechanisms underlying the apoptosis of CD8+T cells in tumor microenvironment; (3) to envisage the in vivo interactions among tumor-specific CD8+T cells, Treg cells/MDSC and tumor cells by in vivo multiphoton microscope; (4) to study the contribution of non-Treg CD4+T cells to the immunosuppression of tumor microenvironment; (5) to investigate the contribution of galectin-9 in stablishing the metastasis by forging the immunosuppression of tumor microenvironment. We expect these studies will provide invaluable information for developing effective strategies of tumor immunotherapy, especially emphasized on the immunosuppression phenomenon of tumor microenvironment.

Project ID:PG10301-0150
External Project ID:NHRI-EX103-10101BI