Epigenetic regulation of tumor immunity

Although cancer has long been considered a genetic disease, increasing evidence shows that epigenetic aberrations play a crucial role in affecting tumor biology and therapeutic response. The dysregulated epigenome in cancer cells reprograms the immune landscape within the tumor microenvironment, thereby hindering antitumor immunity, promoting tumor progression, and inducing immunotherapy resistance. Targeting epigenetically mediated tumor-immune crosstalk is an emerging strategy to inhibit tumor progression and circumvent the limitations of current immunotherapies, including immune checkpoint inhibitors. In this Review, we discuss the mechanisms by which epigenetic aberrations regulate tumorimmune interactions and how epigenetically targeted therapies inhibit tumor progression and synergize with immunotherapy.
Introduction Tumor microenvironment (TME) heterogeneity is recognized as a cancer hallmark (1-4). Studies using mass cytometry, single-cell RNA-Seq (scRNA-Seq), and spatial transcriptomics/proteomics revealed a dynamic and heterogeneous TME, consisting of [...]