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Prognostic significance of regulatory T cells in tumor
Author(s) -
Wilke Cailin Moira,
Wu Ke,
Zhao Ende,
Wang Guobin,
Zou Weiping
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.25464
Subject(s) - regulatory t cell , phenotype , biology , immune system , cancer , t cell , immunology , cancer research , medicine , il 2 receptor , gene , genetics
Abstract Since entering the immunological stage several decades ago, regulatory T cell biology has been realized as fundamentally important in the prevention of autoimmune conditions, induction of transplant tolerance and the immune response to cancer. The role of regulatory T cells in tumor immunobiology is still being elucidated. Currently, regulatory T cells are implicated in the dampening of antitumor T‐cell responses both through direct and indirect means. A number of investigators have demonstrated that regulatory T cell density and location may serve as independent prognostic factors in several types of cancer and are alternately detrimental or beneficial to patient survival. In this article, we will review the characteristics and functional phenotype of classical regulatory T cells, describe their distribution and quantification in tumor‐bearing hosts and summarize recent studies investigating the prognostic significance of regulatory T cell number and locality in various cancers.