Tumor microenvironment in thyroid cancer: Immune cells, patterns, and novel treatments

• Published in: Head & neck Vol. 46; no. 6; pp. 1486 - 1499
• Main Authors: Febrero, Beatriz, Ruiz‐Manzanera, Juan José, Ros‐Madrid, Inmaculada, Hernández, Antonio Miguel, Orenes‐Piñero, Esteban, Rodríguez, José Manuel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-06-2024; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: anaplastic thyroid carcinoma; Cancer therapies; Humans; immune cells; Immune checkpoint inhibitors; Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors - therapeutic use; immune checkpoints; Inflammation; medullary thyroid carcinoma; Monoclonal antibodies; papillary thyroid carcinoma; Thyroid cancer; Thyroid Neoplasms - immunology; Thyroid Neoplasms - pathology; Thyroid Neoplasms - therapy; Tumor cells; Tumor microenvironment; Tumor Microenvironment - immunology; Tumors; anaplastic thyroid carcinoma; immune cells; tumor microenvironment; medullary thyroid carcinoma; papillary thyroid carcinoma; immune checkpoints
• ISSN: 1043-3074; 1097-0347; 1097-0347
• DOI: 10.1002/hed.27695

The tumor immune microenvironment of thyroid cancer is the heterogeneous histological space in which tumor cells coexist with host cells. Published data from this review were identified by search and selection database of Pubmed, Elsevier, and Science Direct. Searching was made in two steps using different keywords. In thyroid pathology, the inflammatory response is very important, and might have a key role finding new diagnostic and therapeutic methods, particularly in thyroid cancer. Different immune cells may be more or less present in different types of thyroid cancer and may even have different functions, hence the importance of knowing their presence in different thyroid tumor pathologies. Cancer‐related inflammation could be a useful target for new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies by analyzing peritumoral and intratumoral immune cells in different types of thyroid tumors. Moreover, novel strategies for thyroid cancer treatments, such as monoclonal antibodies targeting checkpoint inhibitors, are emerging as promising alternatives.