REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1543322
This article is part of the Research TopicImmune Predictive and Prognostic Biomarkers in Immuno-Oncology: Refining the Immunological Landscape of CancerView all 19 articles
Tertiary lymphoid structures in esophageal cancer: a novel target for immunotherapy
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, China., Jinan, Shandong Province, China
- 2Department of Pathology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, China., Jinan, Shandong Province, China
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Esophageal cancer (EC), especially esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), which is the most common subtype in China, is one of the most aggressive gastrointestinal malignancies. Traditional treatments like surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy have limited success, but the study of tertiary lymphoid structure (TLS) has opened new avenues for immunotherapy. TLS is an ectopic immune cell cluster, including B cells, T cells, and dendritic cells (DCs), that forms in chronic inflammation such as tumors. TLS is often found at tumor invasion margins and is linked to better prognosis in EC patients, with higher TLS density and maturation associated with prolonged survival. TLS can also serve as a biomarker to assess immunotherapy outcomes. Further exploration of TLS molecular mechanisms could innovate EC treatments, especially by inducing TLS formation to improve therapy. This review summarizes the characteristics of TLS in EC, clinical findings, and the limitations and directions of current research, offering insights for future immunotherapy strategies.
Keywords: tertiary lymphoid structures1, esophageal cancer2, tumor microenvironment3, immunotherapy4, predictive biomarker5
Received: 11 Dec 2024; Accepted: 15 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhai, Ma, Gao, Ru and Zhao. 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: Miaoqing Zhao, Department of Pathology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, China., Jinan, Shandong Province, China
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