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Epigenetic mechanisms of tumor resistance to immunotherapy

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Abstract

The recent impact of cancer immunotherapies has firmly established the ability and importance of the immune system to fight malignancies. However, the intimate interaction between the highly dynamic tumor and immune cells leads to a selection process driven by genetic and epigenetic processes. As the molecular pathways of cancer resistance mechanisms to immunotherapy become increasingly known, novel therapeutic targets are being tested in combination with immune-stimulating approaches. We here review recent insights into the molecular mechanisms of tumor resistance with particular emphasis on epigenetic processes and place these in the context of previous models.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Catherine Crowley-Kühn for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was funded by the Sassella Foundation (to N. A. R.), Swiss National Science Foundation Grant 310030-172978 (to O. B.), Swiss Cancer Research Grant KFS-4136-02-2017 (to O. B.), and Hochspezialisierte Medizin Schwerpunkt Immunologie (HSM-2-Immunologie; to O. B.).

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  1. Natalia Arenas-Ramirez and Dilara Sahin contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunology, University Hospital Zurich, 8091, Zurich, Switzerland

    Natalia Arenas-Ramirez, Dilara Sahin & Onur Boyman

  2. Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, 8006, Zurich, Switzerland

    Onur Boyman

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  1. Natalia Arenas-Ramirez
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  2. Dilara Sahin
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  3. Onur Boyman
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Correspondence to Natalia Arenas-Ramirez or Onur Boyman.

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Arenas-Ramirez, N., Sahin, D. & Boyman, O. Epigenetic mechanisms of tumor resistance to immunotherapy. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 75, 4163–4176 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-018-2908-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-018-2908-7

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