Affiliation:
1. Department of Immunology and Inflammation, Imperial College London, London W12 0NN, UK
2. Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences (DISCAB), University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
Abstract
Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are the major component of the tumor microenvironment (TME), where they sustain tumor progression and or-tumor immunity. Due to their plasticity, macrophages can exhibit anti- or pro-tumor functions through the expression of different gene sets leading to distinct macrophage phenotypes: M1-like or pro-inflammatory and M2-like or anti-inflammatory. NF-κB transcription factors are central regulators of TAMs in cancers, where they often drive macrophage polarization toward an M2-like phenotype. Therefore, the NF-κB pathway is an attractive therapeutic target for cancer immunotherapy in a wide range of human tumors. Hence, targeting NF-κB pathway in the myeloid compartment is a potential clinical strategy to overcome microenvironment-induced immunosuppression and increase anti-tumor immunity. In this review, we discuss the role of NF-κB as a key driver of macrophage functions in tumors as well as the principal strategies to overcome tumor immunosuppression by targeting the NF-κB pathway.
Funder
Cancer Research UK
NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre
Medical Research Council
Imperial College London Joint Translational Fund, Medical Research Council (MRC) and Yuhan Corporation, Imperial Confidence in Concept (ICiC) 2021
Intramural DISCAB GRANT 2023, Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila
Progetto di Ateneo per la Ricerca di Base 2022, University of L’Aquila
Subject
Genetics (clinical),Genetics
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