REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1542526
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancements in Immune Heterogeneity in Inflammatory Diseases and Cancer: New Targets, Mechanisms, and StrategiesView all 13 articles
Unraveling the Immune Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targets in Lung Adenosquamous Transformation
Provisionally accepted
- 1The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
- 2Fourth Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, China
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Adenocarcinoma-to-squamous cell carcinoma transformation (AST) induces drug resistance in patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), often resulting in unfavorable clinical outcomes. In recent years, it has been found that alterations in the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) during adenosquamous carcinoma trans-differentiation also influence the efficacy of immunotherapy. Moreover, the aberrant expression and activation of several driver genes for AST lead to abnormal infiltration and function of immune cell by remodeling the cellular inflammatory phenotype. In this review, we will systematically present the changes in the TIME and molecular regulatory mechanisms during adenosquamous carcinoma differentiation, aiming to gain a better understand of the function of immune cells during this process and the potential value of combining immunotherapy to enhance the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Keywords: adenosquamous lung carcinoma (ASLC), adenocarcinoma-to-squamous cell carcinoma transformation (AST), tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), Tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs)
Received: 10 Dec 2024; Accepted: 14 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xu, Yang, Wang, Lin, Zhang, Ni and Xu. 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: Zhiyong Xu, Fourth Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Yiwu, 322000, Zhejiang Province, China
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