Correlation of Autophagy with Tumor Immune Escape and Intervention with Chinese Medicine： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Autophagy and tumor immune escape are important biological mechanisms in the process of tumor cell proliferation and metastasis， involving multiple signaling pathways. The interaction of autophagy and tumor immune escape seriously affects the treatment and prognosis of tumor diseases. However， the correlation between autophagy and tumor immune escape is still not fully elucidated. Recent studies have shown that autophagy can affect the activity of immune cells by regulating the presentation of antigens in tumor cells， the release of cytokines， and the degradation of immune checkpoint proteins， thereby positively or negatively regulating tumor cell immune escape. The activation of autophagy in tumor cells can inhibit the activation of the innate immune sensing pathway of stimulator of interferon genes （STING）-type Ⅰ interferon （IFN-Ⅰ） to inhibit its immunogenicity and cytotoxic T lymphocytes （CTLs）， which promotes tumor immune escape. While autophagy suppression can reduce the infiltration of M2 macrophages， promote the binding of natural killer group 2， member D （NKG2D） to its ligand， and inhibit the recognition of immune checkpoint proteins， thereby exerting an immune-killing effect and inhibiting tumor immune escape. Traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） has unique advantages in anti-tumor research， especially in the unilateral regulation of autophagy or improvement of tumor immunity， but the research based on the regulation of autophagy and tumor immunity by TCM is insufficient. A few studies have shown that Chinese medicine monomers and compounds can exert an anti-tumor effect by regulating cell autophagy and interfering with tumor immune escape， but there is still a lack of systematic elaboration. The present study reviewed correlation between autophagy and tumor immune escape and regulation of autophagy by Chinese medicine to interfere with tumor immune escape to provide new ideas for research on mechanism of TCM against tumor diseases and development of innovative TCM drugs against tumors.