Artículo de revista
Paradoxical effects of cytokines in tumor immune surveillance and tumor immune escape
Fecha
2007Registro en:
CYTOKINE & GROWTH FACTOR REVIEWS Vol. 18 FEB-APR 2007 01/02/2008 171-182
Autor
Salazar Onfray, Flavio
López Nitsche, Mercedes
Mendoza Naranjo, Ariadna
Institución
Resumen
The role of cytokines in modulating the formation of new tumors is mediated by their ability to regulate antigen-specific anti-tumor responses and by the activation of non-specific mechanisms, including those involved in the processes of inflammation and innate resistance. Cytokines may influence the growth of tumors by acting directly on tumor cells as growth promoting or growth inhibiting factors or indirectly by attracting inflammatory cell types and affecting angiogenesis. Due to the potency and complexity of cytokine activity against tumor growth, the improvement of cloning techniques and the availability of recombinant forms of different cytokines, a great effort has been made in the recent years to exploit this anti-tumor potential for cancer therapy. This important goal has been difficult to achieve in most cases due to toxicity of most cytokines which could not be dissociated from their anti-tumoral functions. Nevertheless, if well designed, treatment protocols and/or modifications of the cytokine molecules may in some situations augment the anti-tumor effects while limiting the toxicity. One of these molecular approaches could be the design of peptides containing the functional domain of certain cytokines, exemplified by IT9302, a peptide homologous to the functional domain of IL-10, which has demonstrated to increase tumor NK cell sensitivity. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.