About this Research Topic
In the past decade, immunotherapy has made a huge impact on the treatment of various types of cancers with durable remissions and extended the survival time in a subset of patients. For a successful anti-cancer immune response that leads to the effective elimination of cancer cells, the cancer-immunity cycle must be initiated to make neo-antigen-specific T cells recognize and kill tumor cells. Dendritic cells (DCs) orchestrate the cancer-immunity cycle, which process neo-antigens and present epitopes to the T cells. In particular, a specialized subset of conventional DCs is responsible for anti-tumoral T cell-mediated responses. Basically, T cell activation requires costimulatory signals partially from DC maturation, while DC maturation occurring within tumors is insufficient to elicit potent cellular immunity, particularly due to the suppressive environment within tumors. Targeting DCs continues to hold translational potential in cancer immunotherapy.
The overall response rate to the current immunotherapy in patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers is relatively low. The main types of GI cancers with significant disease burden include esophageal, gastric, pancreatic, hepatobiliary, and colorectal cancers. They are the major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Deciphering the GI cancer-immunity cycle and improving the overall survival are the top priority.
The goal of this Research Topic is i) to ascertain the phenotype and function of different DC subsets in GI cancers in human and mouse models in order to uncover the low response rate to immunotherapy, ii) to discover some novel methods of targeting DCs in GI cancer immunotherapy. In this Research Topic, we welcome the submission of original research, review, mini-review, and perspective articles that cover, but are not limited to, the following subtopics:
1. Phenotype and distribution of different DC subsets in draining lymph nodes and tumors;
2. Function of DCs, such as neo-antigen uptake and neo-antigen processing;
3. The role of DCs in the induction of neo-antigen-specific T cells;
4. Immunological tolerance induced by DCs in the tumors;
5. DC-based cancer immunotherapy, such as DC-targeting vaccines;
6. Methods of targeting DCs in immunotherapy.
The overall response rate to the current immunotherapy in patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers is relatively low. The main types of GI cancers with significant disease burden include esophageal, gastric, pancreatic, hepatobiliary, and colorectal cancers. They are the major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Deciphering the GI cancer-immunity cycle and improving the overall survival are the top priority.
The goal of this Research Topic is i) to ascertain the phenotype and function of different DC subsets in GI cancers in human and mouse models in order to uncover the low response rate to immunotherapy, ii) to discover some novel methods of targeting DCs in GI cancer immunotherapy. In this Research Topic, we welcome the submission of original research, review, mini-review, and perspective articles that cover, but are not limited to, the following subtopics:
1. Phenotype and distribution of different DC subsets in draining lymph nodes and tumors;
2. Function of DCs, such as neo-antigen uptake and neo-antigen processing;
3. The role of DCs in the induction of neo-antigen-specific T cells;
4. Immunological tolerance induced by DCs in the tumors;
5. DC-based cancer immunotherapy, such as DC-targeting vaccines;
6. Methods of targeting DCs in immunotherapy.
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
