REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Molecular Innate Immunity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1515390
This article is part of the Research TopicIUIS Junior Community: Pushing the Frontiers of ImmunologyView all 3 articles
Interplay between Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts and Dendritic Cells: Implications for tumor immunity
Provisionally accepted
Fátima María Mentucci1
María Gracia Ferrara1Agustina Ercole2Natalia Belén Rumie Vittar1,2
Maria Julia Lamberti1,2*- 1institute of Environmental Biotechnology and Health (INBIAS), Río Cuarto, Argentina
- 2Departamento de Biología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físico-Químicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina
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The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a critical role in cancer progression, with cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) emerging as key players in immune evasion. This review explores the complex interactions between CAFs and dendritic cells (DCs), essential antigen-presenting cells that activate immune responses. CAFs impair DC maturation and function by secreting cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors, reducing their ability to present antigens and stimulate T cells, thus promoting an immunosuppressive environment favorable to tumor growth. Additionally, CAFs contribute to the differentiation of tolerogenic DCs, fostering regulatory T cells (Tregs) that further suppress antitumor immunity. This review examines the molecular mechanisms underlying CAF-DC crosstalk and discusses potential therapeutic strategies aimed at restoring DC functionality. Targeting the CAF-driven immunosuppressive network offers promising opportunities to enhance the efficacy of DC-based vaccines and immunotherapies, paving the way for improved cancer treatment outcomes.
Keywords: Tumor Microenvironment, Cancer, Stroma, Immunotherapy, Oncoimmunology, Immunosuppression, Tolerogenicity Abbreviations: TME: Tumor Microenvironment, CAFs: cancer-associated fibroblasts
Received: 22 Oct 2024; Accepted: 28 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mentucci, Ferrara, Ercole, Rumie Vittar and Lamberti. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Maria Julia Lamberti, institute of Environmental Biotechnology and Health (INBIAS), Río Cuarto, Argentina
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