Immune evasion by cancer stem cells ensures tumor initiation and failure of immunotherapy

Abstract

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a small subpopulation of cells that drive the formation and progression of tumors. However, during tumor initiation, how CSCs communicate with neighbouring immune cells to overcome the powerful immune surveillance barrier in order to form, spread, and maintain the tumor, remains poorly understood. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary to understand how a small number of tumor-initiating cells (TICs) survive immune attack during (a) the “elimination phase” of “tumor immune-editing”, (b) the establishment of regional or distant tumor after metastasis, and (c) recurrence after therapy. Mounting evidence suggests that CSCs suppress the immune system through a variety of distinct mechanisms that ensure the survival of not only CSCs but also non-stem cancer cells (NSCCs), which eventually form the tumor mass. In this review article, the mechanisms via which CSCs change the immune landscape of the tissue of origin, which contains macrophages, dendritic cells (DCs), myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), natural killer (NK) cells, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, in favour of tumorigenesis were discussed. The failure of cancer immunotherapy might also be explained by such interaction between CSCs and immune cells. This review will shed light on the critical role of CSCs in tumor immune evasion and emphasize the importance of CSC-targeted immunotherapy as a cutting-edge technique for battling cancer by restricting communication between immune cells and CSCs.