REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Molecular Innate Immunity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1689714
Innate Immunity in Tumors: Roles and Therapeutic Targets
Provisionally accepted- 1Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
- 2Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Abstract: Innate immune cells and pathways are central to shaping the tumor microenvironment (TME), where they influence tumor growth, metastasis, and responsiveness to immunotherapy. Although research on innate immunity in cancer has expanded considerably, the mechanisms driving immune dysfunction remain incompletely understood. This review summarizes current knowledge on the functional states of innate immune cells within the TME and highlights how metabolic reprogramming contributes to immune suppression and tumor progression. We further discuss recent advances in therapeutic strategies targeting innate immune pathways, emphasizing their translational potential. Importantly, we also examine unresolved controversies and knowledge gaps across innate immune cells, metabolic networks, and innate immune factors such as complement and cytokines, outlining key challenges for clinical translation. By linking mechanistic insights with emerging interventions and identifying future directions, this review provides a framework for integrating innate immunity into next-generation cancer treatment.
Keywords: innate immunity, Tumor Microenvironment, Immunotherapy, immune cells, Immune factors
Received: 20 Aug 2025; Accepted: 06 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Leng, Ren, Tian, Zhao, Mou, Chen, Zhou and Wang. 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: Wei Wang, weiwang0_0@163.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.