Mechanisms of immune evasion of human neuroblastoma.
Neuroblastoma (NB) is a common neuroectodermal tumor of childhood with low response to conventional therapy in patients with advanced stage disease. Among novel strategies, immumotherapy has attracted much interest. However, scanty information is available about the immunogenicity of human NB. Here, we review our data showing that human NB may evade the control mediated by T cytotoxic lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cells through multiple mechanisms: (i) downregulation of HLA class I molecules and antigen processing machinery components (ii) downregulation of activating ligands for the activating immunoreceptor NKG2D expressed by cytotoxic T lymphocytes and NK cells. Additional mechanisms of immune evasion used by human NB cells are discussed.
Raffaghello
Lizzia
L
Laboratory of Oncology, G. Gaslini Institute, Genova, Italy. lizziaraffaghello@ospedale-gaslini.ge.it
Prigione
Ignazia
I
Airoldi
Irma
I
Camoriano
Marta
M
Morandi
Fabio
F
Bocca
Paolo
P
Gambini
Claudio
C
Ferrone
Soldano
S
Pistoia
Vito
V
D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000276:immunology*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology
D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I