Autoimmunity, Infection and Cancer, an Inflammatory Relationship with Intimate Implication to Cancer Prevention and Immunotherapy

Recent studies of cancer incidence in the US over the last 4 decades have detected a steady increase of early-onset cancers in young adults, particularly in young women before 40 years of age. While a complex interplay of host and environmental factors, including infectious agents, may underpin the alarming increase of several types of cancers in the young, autoimmunity are thought be substantial contributors. On the other hand, autoimmunity is also surmised as a critical effector mechanism in mediating antitumor immunity, such as the remarkable therapeutic effect elicited by immune checkpoint inhibitors in some patients, although autoimmunity is more often recognized for its role in immune-related adverse events in cancer immune therapy. Therefore, a better understanding of the molecular and cellular basis of the intricate relationship between autoimmunity, infection and cancer, which perhaps varies among individuals and in specific settings, can help improve cancer immune therapy as well as new strategies for cancer prevention. 

This Research Topic will examine potential causal roles of autoimmunity and infection in cancer promotion and anti-tumor immunity. The series will focus on the cellular and molecular players in the autoimmune or inflammatory processes that may kill tumor cells or may drive cellular differentiation to a malignant fate. In addition, the topic will illustrate potential interaction or converging effect of autoimmunity and oncogenic infectious agents such H. pylori or EB virus. The topic will address potential approaches to distinguish pro-tumor or anti-tumor inflammatory signals in the microenvironment of pre-malignant and invasive tumors. The ultimate goals are to identify novel biomarkers as well as new strategies for precision medicine in cancer treatment and prevention.

·      Epidemiological evidence for the association of autoimmunity, infection and cancer, with a focus on the changing trend of autoimmunity or a subset of autoimmune disorders and its potential impact to the rise of early-onset cancers.

·      Elements of autoimmunity that may be involved in anti-tumor immunity, such as autoreactive T and B cells and effector molecules.

·      Autoimmune conditions as potential enablers for oncogenic infectious agents such H. pylori or EB virus, or the role of microbial agents in promoting autoimmune inflammation.

·      Lineage fates and functions of innate and adaptive immune cells, parenchymal cells and stromal cells as well as the role of transcriptional, epigenetic and metabolic programming in the interplay of autoimmunity, inflammatory tumorigenesis and antitumor immunity.

·      Implications to cancer immune therapy, including mitigation of autoimmune toxicity in cancer immune therapy and boosting autoimmunity-mediate tumor destruction.

·      Implications to cancer prevention such as potential preventive measures against autoimmunity-mediated inflammatory tumorigenesis.