Crowd Control: Basic Tumor Immunology Flashcards
What are the two arms of the immune system?
Humoral and cellular
What occurs in hypoxic areas?
- monocytes are continually recruited into tumors, differentiated into tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), and then accumulate in these areas
How to macrophages respond to the levels of hypoxia in tumors?
They upregulate the TF hypoxia-inducible factors 1 and 2
What does Hypoxia-inducible factors 1 and 2 activate? What is significant about this?
- A broad array of mitogenic, proinvasive, proangiogenic, and prometastatic genes
- Possible explanation of why high numbers of TAMs correlate with poor prognosis in various forms of cancer
In environments with LPS/INF-gamma, what type of TAM is present and what does it effect?
Anti-tumor TAM
- cytokines (eg., immunostimulatory)
- chemokines (eg., for lymphocytes)
- tumor cell lysis
- reactive oxygen and nitrogen species
- metalloproteinases (MMP-7,9 and 12)
In hypoxic environments, what type of TAMs are present and what do they effect?
Pro-tumor TAMs
- pro-angiogenic cytokines and enzymes
- reactive oxygen and nitrogen species
- cytokines (mitogens and immunosuppresive factors)
- tissue factor/uPA
- metalloproteinases (wide range)
- chemokines (eg., monocytes and macrophages)
What happens when there is in an increase in IL-10 concentration in hypoxic environments?
It is the autoinflammatory cytokine that attempts to heal the wound
- it brings iron, VEGF and other GF
- the brought iron feeds the proliferating cells
What are Anti-tumour macrophages (MACs) capable of?
- Anti-infection and phagocytic capable
In normal cells, what do Pro-tumor TAMs do?
They assist in wound healing
How are MACs and TAMS different in what they respond?
What they respond to:
- MACs: respond to LPS or INF-gamma and phagocytize an infectious pathogen or tumour cell
- TAMs: responds to hypoxia in an attempt to solve the problem
- > chronic infection attracts wound healing TAMs
How are MACs and TAMS different in their cytokines?
Cytokines:
- MACs: cytokines are immuno-stimulatory
- TAMs: proangiogenic (eg., IL-10 stimulates HIF1alpha and VEGF)
- > pro-angiogenesis promotes cell survival
How are MACs and TAMS different in what their cytokines or chemokines attract?
Chemokines/cytokines:
- MACs: their chemokines attract just enough T helper lymphocytes to protect from infection or tumor cells
- TAMs: cytokines are anti-inflammatory work in combination with immuno-suppresive compounds
- > immunosuppression promotes unusual cell survival
How are MACs and TAMS different in their ROS release?
ROS release:
- MACs: tolerable level, easily controlled
- TAMs: too high a level, contributes to tissue injury, DNA damage and genomic instability
- > high levels of ROS promotes genomic instability
How are MACs and TAMS different in their treatment of the issue?
Issue treatment:
- MACs: releases TNF-alpha at local levels that induces apoptosis in possible cancerous cells
- TAMs: recruited to tumor environment by tissue factor and chemokines
- > TAMs usually indicate an unresolved chronic infection that are immunosuppressive and tumor supportive
How are MACs and TAMS different in their MMPs?
MMPs:
- MACs: 7, 9 and 12 -> remove potentially cancerous and unusual cells by phagocytosis
- TAMs: involved in the enhanced mobility and metastatic capacity of tumor cells
- > increases metastatic capacity
Why is the diversity of recognition possibilities for TCRs is not limited by the linear genome?
T cells can rearrange their DNA during development to an enormously wide range of recognition
What is the estimated recognition diversity?
10^15
What occurs to potentially dangerous T and B cells that have self reactive receptors?
They are eliminated by negative selection in the thymus and bone marrow respectively
What do cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) develop on their surface?
They develop antibody like molecules on their surface (T cell receptors) that display and Ag “like” recognition for a specific pathogen