Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and Its Microenvironment: Past, Current, and Future Perspectives
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an epithelial malignancy that raises public health concerns in endemic countries. Despite breakthroughs in therapeutic strategies, late diagnosis and drug resistance often lead to unsatisfactory clinical outcomes in NPC patients. The tumor microenvironment (TME) is...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Oncology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fonc.2022.840467/full |
| _version_ | 1819349436706324480 |
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| author | Zhi Yi Su Pui Yan Siak Chee-Onn Leong Chee-Onn Leong Shiau-Chuen Cheah |
| author_facet | Zhi Yi Su Pui Yan Siak Chee-Onn Leong Chee-Onn Leong Shiau-Chuen Cheah |
| author_sort | Zhi Yi Su |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an epithelial malignancy that raises public health concerns in endemic countries. Despite breakthroughs in therapeutic strategies, late diagnosis and drug resistance often lead to unsatisfactory clinical outcomes in NPC patients. The tumor microenvironment (TME) is a complex niche consisting of tumor-associated cells, such as fibroblasts, endothelial cells, leukocytes, that influences tumor initiation, progression, invasion, and metastasis. Cells in the TME communicate through various mechanisms, of note, exosomes, ligand-receptor interactions, cytokines and chemokines are active players in the construction of TME, characterized by an abundance of immune infiltrates with suppressed immune activities. The NPC microenvironment serves as a target-rich niche for the discovery of potential promising predictive or diagnostic biomarkers and the development of therapeutic strategies. Thus, huge efforts have been made to exploit the role of the NPC microenvironment. The whole picture of the NPC microenvironment remains to be portrayed to understand the mechanisms underlying tumor biology and implement research into clinical practice. The current review discusses the recent insights into the role of TME in the development and progression of NPC which results in different clinical outcomes of patients. Clinical interventions with the use of TME components as potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets, their challenges, and future perspectives will be introduced. This review anticipates to provide insights to the researchers for future preclinical, translational and clinical research on the NPC microenvironment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-24T19:00:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1ad6b067c94f42b7b1f29a952171afe7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2234-943X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-24T19:00:30Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Oncology |
| spelling | doaj.art-1ad6b067c94f42b7b1f29a952171afe72022-12-21T16:43:14ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Oncology2234-943X2022-03-011210.3389/fonc.2022.840467840467Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and Its Microenvironment: Past, Current, and Future PerspectivesZhi Yi Su0Pui Yan Siak1Chee-Onn Leong2Chee-Onn Leong3Shiau-Chuen Cheah4Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UCSI University, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFaculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UCSI University, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaCentre of Cancer and Stem Cells Research, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaInstitute for Research, Development and Innovation, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFaculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UCSI University, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaNasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an epithelial malignancy that raises public health concerns in endemic countries. Despite breakthroughs in therapeutic strategies, late diagnosis and drug resistance often lead to unsatisfactory clinical outcomes in NPC patients. The tumor microenvironment (TME) is a complex niche consisting of tumor-associated cells, such as fibroblasts, endothelial cells, leukocytes, that influences tumor initiation, progression, invasion, and metastasis. Cells in the TME communicate through various mechanisms, of note, exosomes, ligand-receptor interactions, cytokines and chemokines are active players in the construction of TME, characterized by an abundance of immune infiltrates with suppressed immune activities. The NPC microenvironment serves as a target-rich niche for the discovery of potential promising predictive or diagnostic biomarkers and the development of therapeutic strategies. Thus, huge efforts have been made to exploit the role of the NPC microenvironment. The whole picture of the NPC microenvironment remains to be portrayed to understand the mechanisms underlying tumor biology and implement research into clinical practice. The current review discusses the recent insights into the role of TME in the development and progression of NPC which results in different clinical outcomes of patients. Clinical interventions with the use of TME components as potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets, their challenges, and future perspectives will be introduced. This review anticipates to provide insights to the researchers for future preclinical, translational and clinical research on the NPC microenvironment.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fonc.2022.840467/fullnasopharyngeal carcinomatumor microenvironmentEpstein-Barr virusimmunotherapyexosomes |
| spellingShingle | Zhi Yi Su Pui Yan Siak Chee-Onn Leong Chee-Onn Leong Shiau-Chuen Cheah Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and Its Microenvironment: Past, Current, and Future Perspectives Frontiers in Oncology nasopharyngeal carcinoma tumor microenvironment Epstein-Barr virus immunotherapy exosomes |
| title | Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and Its Microenvironment: Past, Current, and Future Perspectives |
| title_full | Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and Its Microenvironment: Past, Current, and Future Perspectives |
| title_fullStr | Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and Its Microenvironment: Past, Current, and Future Perspectives |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and Its Microenvironment: Past, Current, and Future Perspectives |
| title_short | Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and Its Microenvironment: Past, Current, and Future Perspectives |
| title_sort | nasopharyngeal carcinoma and its microenvironment past current and future perspectives |
| topic | nasopharyngeal carcinoma tumor microenvironment Epstein-Barr virus immunotherapy exosomes |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fonc.2022.840467/full |
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