Oncogenes in immune cells as potential therapeutic targets

Abstract

Gulnur K Zakiryanova,1 Sarah Wheeler,2 Michael R Shurin2 1Department Biophysics and Biomedicine, Faculty Biology and Biotechnology, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan; 2Division of Clinical Immunopathology, Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Abstract: The role of deregulated expression of oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes in tumor development has been intensively investigated for decades. However, expression of oncogenes and their potential role in immune cell defects during carcinogenesis and tumor progression have not been thoroughly assessed. The defects in proto-oncogenes have been well documented and evaluated mostly in tumor cells, despite the fact that proto-oncogenes are expressed in all cells, including cells of the immune system. In this review, key studies from immune-mediated diseases that may be associated with oncogene signaling pathways are refocused to provide groundwork for beginning to understand the effects of oncogenes in and on the cancer-related immune system dysfunction. Keywords: oncogenes, immune cells, NK cells, Myc, cancer 

Keywords

• oncogenes
• immune cells
• NK cells
• Myc
• cancer