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Updated: Dec 17, 2025

Monitoring the Cancer-Immunity Cycle and Exploring Tumor Microenvironment Dynamics
Published on: June 7, 2024
Mechanisms of immune escape in the cancer immune cycle
Sha Tang1, Qian Ning2, Ling Yang1
1Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Tumor Microenvironment Responsive Drug Research & Hunan Province Cooperative Innovation Center for Molecular Target New Drug Study, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China; Hunan Province Key Laboratory for Antibody-Based Drug and Intelligent Delivery System, Hunan University of Medicine, Huaihua 418000, China.
Abstract:
Cancer is a critical issue globally with high incidence and mortality, imposing great burden on the society. Although great progress has been made in immunotherapy based on immune checkpoint, only a subset of patients responds to this treatment, suggesting that cancer immune evasion is still a major barrier in current immunotherapy. There are a series of factors contributing to immune evasion despite in an immunocompetent environment. Given that these factors are involved in different steps of the cancer immune cycle. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms of immune escape in each step of the cancer immune cycle and then present therapeutic strategies for overcoming immune escape, with the potential to better understand the determinants of immune escape and make anti-tumor immunity more effective.
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