Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology (Oct 2023)

STING in tumors: a focus on non-innate immune pathways

  • Jiaying Yang,
  • Jiaying Yang,
  • Mei Yang,
  • Yingtong Wang,
  • Jicheng Sun,
  • Yiran Liu,
  • Ling Zhang,
  • Baofeng Guo

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2023.1278461
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11

Abstract

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Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) and downstream stimulator of interferon genes (STING) are involved in mediating innate immunity by promoting the release of interferon and other inflammatory factors. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) with a double-stranded structure has greater efficiency and sensitivity in being detected by DNA sensors and thus has an important role in the activation of the cGAS-STING pathway. Many previous findings suggest that the cGAS-STING pathway-mediated innate immune regulation is the most important aspect affecting tumor survival, not only in its anti-tumor role but also in shaping the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) through a variety of pathways. However, recent studies have shown that STING regulation of non-immune pathways is equally profound and also involved in tumor cell progression. In this paper, we will focus on the non-innate immune system pathways, in which the cGAS-STING pathway also plays an important role in cancer.

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