Roles of innate lymphoid cells in tumor immunity and their clinical significance / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

ABSTRACT

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are a recently characterized family of immune cells that have critical roles in innate immunity, immune regulation, maintenance of tissue homeostasis, and tissue repair and remodeling. Besides the conventional innate lymphocytes including NK cells and lymphoid tissue-inducer cells, the ILC family can be categorized into three groups, ILC1s, ILC2s and ILC3s. These non-cytotoxic ILC subsets have been identified to confer a diverse array of functions in oncogenesis and metastasis, immune surveillance, and antitumor immunity. In this review, we summarized the emerging findings in recent years regarding the roles of ILCs in immuno-oncology, and highlighted their potentials in immunotherapeutic approaches to tumors.