Neutrophil dynamics in the tumor microenvironment

J Clin Invest. 2021 Mar 15;131(6):e143759. doi: 10.1172/JCI143759.

Abstract

The tumor microenvironment profoundly influences the behavior of recruited leukocytes and tissue-resident immune cells. These immune cells, which inherently have environmentally driven plasticity necessary for their roles in tissue homeostasis, dynamically interact with tumor cells and the tumor stroma and play critical roles in determining the course of disease. Among these immune cells, neutrophils were once considered much more static within the tumor microenvironment; however, some of these earlier assumptions were the product of the notorious difficulty in manipulating neutrophils in vitro. Technological advances that allow us to study neutrophils in context are now revealing the true roles of neutrophils in the tumor microenvironment. Here we discuss recent data generated by some of these tools and how these data might be synthesized into more elegant ways of targeting these powerful and abundant effector immune cells in the clinic.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Disease Progression
  • Humans
  • Immunotherapy
  • Models, Immunological
  • Neoplasm Metastasis / immunology
  • Neoplasm Metastasis / pathology
  • Neoplasm Metastasis / physiopathology
  • Neoplasms / immunology
  • Neoplasms / therapy
  • Neutropenia / immunology
  • Neutrophils / immunology*
  • Neutrophils / pathology
  • Neutrophils / physiology
  • Translational Research, Biomedical
  • Tumor Microenvironment / immunology*
  • Tumor Microenvironment / physiology