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Review
. 2020:1224:1-20.
doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-35723-8_1.

Neutrophils in the Tumor Microenvironment

Lingyun Wu  1 , Sugandha Saxena  1 , Rakesh K Singh  2
Affiliations
Review

Neutrophils in the Tumor Microenvironment

Lingyun Wu et al. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2020.

Abstract

Neutrophils are the first responders to inflammation, infection, and injury. As one of the most abundant leukocytes in the immune system, neutrophils play an essential role in cancer progression, through multiple mechanisms, including promoting angiogenesis, immunosuppression, and cancer metastasis. Recent studies demonstrating elevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratios suggest neutrophil as a potential therapeutic target and biomarker for disease status in cancer. This chapter will discuss the phenotypic and functional changes in the neutrophil in the tumor microenvironment, the underlying mechanism(s) of neutrophil facilitated cancer metastasis, and clinical potential of neutrophils as a prognostic/diagnostic marker and therapeutic target.

Keywords: Angiogenesis; CXCR2 ligands; IL17; Metastasis; NETs; NLR; Neutrophil; Neutrophil-released proteases; Pro-tumor chemokines; Pro-tumor cytokines; Tumor microenvironment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.1
Fig. 1.1
Neutrophil-released factors in the tumor microenvironment. The neutrophils in the tumor microenvironment may facilitate cancer progression through secretion of proteases such as NE and CG, chemokines, and cytokines (which leads to the recruitment of other pro-tumor immune cells or T cell immunosuppression), together with the release of RNS/ROS. Neutrophils also facilitate cancer progression through formations of NETs
Fig. 1.2
Fig. 1.2
The potential mechanism regarding IL17-induced chemokine/cytokine secretion. IL17 enhanced expression of ERK signaling in multiple cell types, including cancer cells, which results in upregulation of cytokines and chemokines such as CXCR2 ligands. The upregulation of CXCR2 ligands results in positive neutrophils mobilization to the tumor sites
Fig. 1.3
Fig. 1.3
Putative mechanism(s) regarding neutrophils facilitated cancer progression. The neutrophils can facilitate cancer progression by multiple mechanisms, including metastasis
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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