title: Oral immune tolerance mediated by suppressor T cells may be responsible for the poorer prognosis of foregut cancers.
abstract: The poor prognosis of foregut cancers might, in part, be due to the immune tolerising effect of tumour antigens which are shed into the gastrointestinal tract and processed by the gut immune system. This would create a tumour specific tolerance without compromise of global immune functions. Experimental data shows that orally fed cancer tissue induces a non cross reactive attenuation of the cellular anti tumour host responses and confers a growth advantage specific to individual cancers. Although the cellular basis of such pro-tumourogenic responses has yet to be established, it is likely, based on studies of oral tolerance mechanisms, that recruitment of immune suppressive T cells (T(regs)) may be responsible. Abrogation of oral immune tolerance to the tumour by immune based therapy could represent a significant advance in the management of upper gastrointestinal cancers.
authors.affiliation: Cork Cancer Research Centre, Leslie C. Quick Jnr. Laboratory, Mercy University Hospital, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Larkin
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tangney
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Garrett
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Casey
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: Declan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Soden
authors.forename: Gerald C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D007414:Intestinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000166:cytology*