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Updated: Sep 22, 2025

Monitoring the Cancer-Immunity Cycle and Exploring Tumor Microenvironment Dynamics
Published on: June 7, 2024
Cancer evolution: Special focus on the immune aspect of cancer
Xiao Hu1, Zhengxi Chen2, Zheng Wang3
1Key Laboratory of Basic and Translational Research on Immune-Mediated Skin Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, 12 Jiangwangmiao Street, Xuanwu, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210042, China; Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Skin Diseases and STIs, Hospital for Skin Diseases and Institute of Dermatology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, 12 Jiangwangmiao Street, Xuanwu, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210042, China.
Abstract:
Cancer is an evolutionary disease. Intra-tumor heterogeneity (ITH), which describes the diversity within individual tumors, sets the foundation for evolution. The fitness of tumor cells is determined by their microenvironment, which exerts intense selection pressure that generally favors cells with survival and proliferation advantages. It has been revealed that host immunity dramatically influences the evolutionary trajectory of cancer. As technologies advance, a refined map of the immune system's involvement in cancer evolution has gradually come to our knowledge. Here we specifically view cancer through the lens of evolutionary immunological biology. We will cover the neoplastic evolution under immunosurveillance, including how the host immunity shapes the tumor evolutionary trajectory and how progressive tumors modulate the host immunity to survive. A comprehensive understanding of the interplay between cancer evolution and cancer immunity provides clues to combating cancer strategically.
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