肿瘤血管内皮细胞的免疫学特性

在肿瘤的发展过程中,肿瘤血管起到极为重要的作用,不仅为肿瘤提供营养、而且为肿瘤的转移提供了途径。由于肿瘤血管内皮细胞长期处于肿瘤微环境中,其表型及功能特性都发生了明显的变化,其中包括某些免疫学特性的改变,例如内皮细胞粘附分子表达水平降低、白细胞粘附作用减弱、抗原递呈功能不良、抗自由基损伤能力增强、合成大量的细胞外基质等。由于肿瘤血管内皮细胞是免疫细胞和免疫治疗药物进入肿瘤组织的第一道屏障,因此肿瘤血管内皮细胞的免疫学特性可能与肿瘤细胞逃避免疫监视、抵抗免疫杀伤有关。本文简要综述有关肿瘤血管内皮细胞免疫学特性,并分析这些特性与肿瘤免疫逃逸的关系。

Immunologic characteristics of tumor-derived vascular endothelial cells

Tumor vessel plays an important role in development of tumor, because they supply tumor not only nutrition but also a way of metastasis. Since tumor-derived vascular endothelial cells chronically emerge in tumor microenvironment, their phenotypes and functions have significantly changed, including some immunologic characteristics, such as down-regulated adhesion molecules, diminished leukocyte-endothelium interactions, impaired antigen presentation, enhanced resistant activity to free radicals, and synthesis of a great amount of extracellular matrix. Because tumor-derived vascular endothelial cell is the first barrier for immune cells and immune drugs to enter tumor tissue, these changes of immunologic characteristics of tumor- derived vascular endothelial cells may be related to the mechanisms of tumor cells escaping from host's immune surveillance and immune killing. This review summarized the immunologic characteristics of tumor-derived vascular endothelial cells, and analyzed the relationship between these characteristics and tumor immune escape.