Tumour Microenvironment: The General Principles of Pathogenesis and Implications in Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma

Abstract

Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma worldwide, constituting around 30–40% of all cases. Almost 60% of patients develop relapse of refractory DLBCL. Among the reasons for the therapy failure, tumour microenvironment (TME) components could be involved, including tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs), myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), tumour-associated neutrophils (TANs), cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), and different subtypes of cytotoxic CD8+ cells and T regulatory cells, which show complex interactions with tumour cells. Understanding of the TME can provide new therapeutic options for patients with DLBCL and improve their prognosis and overall survival. This review provides essentials of the latest understanding of tumour microenvironment elements and discusses their role in tumour progression and immune suppression mechanisms which result in poor prognosis for patients with DLBCL. In addition, we point out important markers for the diagnostic purposes and highlight novel therapeutic targets.

Keywords

• diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL)
• tumour microenvironment (TME)
• tumour-associated macrophages (TAM)
• tumour-associated neutrophils (TAN)
• T cell
• cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF)