Among all immune cells, dendritic cells (DC) are the most potent APCs in the immune system and are central players of the adaptive immune response. There are phenotypically and functionally distinct DC populations derived from blood and lymphoid organ including plasmacytoid DC (pDC), conventional DC (cDC1 and cDC2) and monocyte-derived DC (moDC). The interaction between these different DCs and tumors is a dynamic process where DC-mediated cross-priming of tumor specific T cells is critical in initiating and sustaining anti-tumor immunity. Their presence within the tumor tends to induce T cell responses and to reduce cancer progression and is associated with improved patient survival. This review will focus on the distinct tumor-associated DCs (TADC) subsets in the tumor microenvironment (TME), their roles in tumor immunology and their prognostic and/or predictive impact in human cancers. The development of therapeutic immunity strategies targeting TADC is promising to enhance their immune-stimulatory capacity in cancers and improve the efficacy of current immunotherapies including immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) blockade and DC-based therapies.

在所有免疫细胞中，树突状细胞 (DC) 是免疫系统中最有效的 APC，并且是适应性免疫反应的核心参与者。有来自血液和淋巴器官的表型和功能不同的 DC 群体，包括浆细胞样 DC (pDC)、常规 DC (cDC1 和 cDC2) 和单核细胞衍生的 DC (moDC)。这些不同 DC 与肿瘤之间的相互作用是一个动态过程，其中 DC 介导的肿瘤特异性 T 细胞交叉引发对于启动和维持抗肿瘤免疫至关重要。它们在肿瘤中的存在往往会诱导 T 细胞反应并减少癌症进展，并与提高患者存活率相关。本综述将重点关注肿瘤微环境 (TME) 中不同的肿瘤相关 DCs (TADC) 亚群，它们在肿瘤免疫学中的作用及其对人类癌症的预后和/或预测影响。针对 TADC 的治疗性免疫策略的发展有望增强其在癌症中的免疫刺激能力，并提高当前免疫疗法的功效，包括免疫检查点抑制剂 (ICI) 阻断和基于 DC 的疗法。