Molecular mechanisms mediating oxidative stress-induced T-cell suppression in cancer

摘要

In cancer settings, oxidative stress plays an important role in modulation of the immune system. Exposure to reactive oxygen species (ROS), produced by activated granulocytes and macrophages in the context of malignant disorders, causes dysfunction of T-cells and NK cells (Kono et al., 1996a,b; Otsuji et al., 1996; Schmielau and Finn, 2001; Schmielau et al., 2001; Thoren et al., 2007), both being important cell types for tumor defense. Besides local inhibition of T-cells in the vicinity of the tumor, for example due to ROS production by tumor-infiltrating macrophages, production of hydrogen peroxide by activated granulocytes in the circulation leads to systemic T-cell suppression (Schmielau and Finn, 2001). In this overview we focus on recent work describing molecular mechanisms of ROS-mediated T-cell suppression.