About this Research Topic
The microenvironment of a developing tumor is composed of proliferating tumor cells, the tumor stroma, blood vessels, infiltrating inflammatory cells and a variety of associated tissue cells. Accumulating evidence indicates that the crosstalk between stroma cells and malignant cells within this environment crucially determines the fate of tumor progression, its hostility and heterogeneity. A better knowledge of the key suppressive and resistance mechanisms associated with the complexity of tumor microenvironment should therefore provide the means to tailor treatments and develop new combinatorial therapeutic strategies.
Although immune checkpoint blockers on T cells result in significantly improved survival in various metastatic cancer types, a large fraction of cancer patients fail to respond to these therapeutic interventions. In this regard, it has become clear that immunotherapies can be more effective by combining with agents that modulate the tumor microenvironment and modifying the tumor microenvironment to elaborate new strategies for immunotherapy is at present very challenging.
The aim of this Research Topic is to provide a comprehensive review covering the most recent developments in our understanding of the influence of the tumor microenvironment on tumor resistance and suppression with a particular focus on the most effective current therapeutic strategies to target molecules, metabolites and cells that create and sustain the immune hostile tumor microenvironment.
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
