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REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1476427
This article is part of the Research Topic Deciphering the Complex Interplay of Cancer Stem Cells and Immune Dynamics in the Tumor Microenvironment and Metastatic Niches View all articles

Crosstalk between Thyroid CSCs and immune cells: basic principles and clinical implications

Provisionally accepted
Xiaoxiao Li Xiaoxiao Li 1Hengtong Han Hengtong Han 2Kaili Yang Kaili Yang 1Shouhua Li Shouhua Li 1Libin Ma Libin Ma 2Ze Yang Ze Yang 2Yong-xun Zhao Yong-xun Zhao 2*
  • 1 Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
  • 2 First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Thyroid cancer has become the most common endocrine malignancy.Although the majority of differentiated thyroid cancers have a favorable prognosis, advanced thyroid cancers, iodine-refractory thyroid cancers, and highly malignant undifferentiated carcinomas still face a serious challenge of poor prognosis and even death. Cancer stem cells are recognized as one of the central drivers of tumor evolution, recurrence and treatment resistance. A fresh viewpoint on the oncological aspects of thyroid cancer, including proliferation, invasion, recurrence, metastasis, and therapeutic resistance, has been made possible by the recent thorough understanding of the defining and developing features as well as the plasticity of thyroid cancer stem cells (TCSCs). The above characteristics of TCSCs are complicated and regulated by cell-intrinsic mechanisms (including activation of key stem signaling pathways, somatic cell dedifferentiation, etc.) and cell-extrinsic mechanisms. The 2 / 66 complex communication between TCSCs and the infiltrating immune cell populations in the tumor microenvironment (TME) is a paradigm for cellextrinsic regulators. This review introduces the current advances in the studies of TCSCs, including the origin of TCSCs, the intrinsic signaling pathways regulating the stemness of TCSCs, and emerging biomarkers; In this Perspective, we focus on the current research progress of TCSCs, including the origins, intrinsic signaling pathways regulating stemness, and emerging biomarkers; We further highlight the underlying principles of bidirectional crosstalk between TCSCs and immune cell populations driving thyroid cancer progression, recurrence, or metastasis, including the specific mechanisms by which immune cells maintain the stemness and other properties of TCSCs and how TCSCs reshape the immune microenvironmental landscape to create an immune evasive and protumorigenic ecological niche. Finally, we outline promising strategies and challenges for targeting key programs in the TCSCs-immune cell crosstalk process to treat thyroid cancer.

    Keywords: Thyroid cancer stem cells, thyroid cancer, immune cells, targeting cancer stem cells, Immunotherapy

    Received: 05 Aug 2024; Accepted: 04 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Li, Han, Yang, Li, Ma, Yang and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yong-xun Zhao, First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.