REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Regulatory T Cells in Cancer: From Immunosuppression to Therapeutic Targeting
Provisionally accepted
- 1Laboratorio de Investigación en Inmunología y Proteómica, Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, Mexico City, Mexico
- 2Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico City, Mexico
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Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a pivotal role in maintaining immune homeostasis; however, their presence in the tumor microenvironment contributes to immune evasion and cancer progression. The modulation of Tregs has emerged as a key strategy in immunotherapy, with approaches ranging from direct depletion to functional reprogramming. This review summarizes advances in Treg modulation through checkpoint blockade, selective depletion, and metabolic or epigenetic reprogramming. Additionally, we discuss the potential of Treg plasticity as a therapeutic avenue, emphasizing how shifts in Treg phenotype can enhance antitumor immunity. Furthermore, we highlight combinatory strategies, including radiotherapy, cytokine-based therapies, and metabolic targeting that reshape the immune landscape to potentiate cancer immunotherapy. Understanding the dynamic nature of Tregs cells and their modulation offers promising directions for enhancing therapeutic efficacy and overcoming resistance in several cancer types.
Keywords: Tregs cells, Immunotherapy, Cancer, Leukemia, suppressor cells, immune checkpoints, cellularplasticity, Treg depletion
Received: 11 Sep 2025; Accepted: 14 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Basurto-Olvera, Serrano and Maldonado-Bernal. 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: Carmen Maldonado-Bernal, cmaldobe@gmail.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.