Hot and Cold Tumors: Is Endoglin (CD105) a Potential Target for Vessel Normalization?

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Immunology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• The tumor microenvironment (TME) comprises malignant and normal cells, influencing cancer prognosis and treatment response, particularly immunotherapy.
• Tumors are classified as 'hot' (immunosupportive TME, good immunotherapy response) or 'cold' (immunosuppressive TME, poor immunotherapy response).
• Vascular normalization is a strategy to convert cold tumors into hot tumors, enhancing immunotherapy efficacy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose endoglin (CD105) as a therapeutic target for vascular normalization in converting cold tumors to hot tumors.
• To investigate the role of endoglin (CD105) in the key processes of TME generation: angiogenesis, inflammation, and cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) accumulation.
• To explore the potential of endoglin (CD105) expression analysis for predicting patient response to immunotherapy.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on tumor microenvironment, immunotherapy, vascular normalization, and endoglin (CD105).
• Analysis of endoglin's (CD105) involvement in angiogenesis, inflammation, and cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) accumulation.
• Examination of current clinical applications of endoglin (CD105) expression analysis in tumor microvascular density assessment.

Main Results:

• Endoglin (CD105) is implicated in angiogenesis, inflammation, and cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) accumulation, key components of the TME.
• Endoglin (CD105) expression analysis is currently used clinically to assess microvascular density and is linked to poorer prognoses.
• Endoglin (CD105) presents a potential target for vascular normalization strategies aimed at modulating the TME.

Conclusions:

• Endoglin (CD105) is a promising target for vascular normalization to transform immunosuppressive TMEs into immunosupportive ones.
• Assessing endoglin (CD105) expression in tumors could serve as a predictive biomarker for immunotherapy response.
• Targeting endoglin (CD105) offers a potential therapeutic avenue to improve outcomes for patients with cold tumors.