Immunological battlefield in gastric cancer and role of immunotherapies

Abstract

Like the wars predating the First World War where human foot soldiers were deemed tools in the battlefield against an enemy, so too are the host immune cells of a patient battling a malignant gastric cancer. Indeed, the tumour microenvironment resembles a battlefield, where the patient's immune cells are the defence against invading tumour cells. However, the relationship between different immune components of the host response to cancer is more complex than an us against them model. Components of the immune system inadvertently work against the interests of the host and become pro-tumourigenic while other components soldier on against the common enemy-the tumour cell.