Immunotherapies such as CAR-T cell transfer and antibody-targeted therapy have produced promising clinical outcomes in patients with advanced and metastatic cancer that are resistant to conventional therapies. However, with increasing use of cancer immunotherapy in clinical treatment, multiple therapy-resistance mechanisms have gradually emerged. The tumor microenvironment (TME), an integral component of cancer, can significantly influence the therapeutic response. Thus, it is worth exploring the potential of TME in modulating therapy resistance, in the hope to devise novel strategies to reinforcing anti-cancer treatments such as immunotherapy. As a crucial recycling process in the complex TME, the role of autophagy in tumor immunity has been increasingly appreciated. Firstly, autophagy in tumor cells can affect their immune response through modulating MHC-I-antigen complexes, thus modulating immunogenic tumor cell death, changing functions of immune cells via secretory autophagy, reducing the NK- and CTL-mediated cell lysis and degradation of immune checkpoint proteins. Secondly, autophagy is critical for the differentiation, maturation and survival of immune cells in the TME and can significantly affect the immune function of these cells, thereby regulating the anti-tumor immune response. Thirdly, alteration of autophagic activity in stromal cells, especially in fibroblasts, can reconstruct the three-dimensional stromal environment and metabolic reprogramming in the TME. A number of studies have demonstrated that optimal induction or inhibition of autophagy may lead to effective therapeutic regimens when combined with immunotherapy. This review discusses the important roles of autophagy in tumor cells, immune cells and stromal cells in the context of tumor immunity, and the potential of combining the autophagy-based therapy with immunotherapy as novel therapeutic approaches against cancer.

CAR-T细胞转移和抗体靶向治疗等免疫疗法已在对常规疗法耐药的晚期和转移性癌症患者中产生了有希望的临床结果。然而，随着癌症免疫疗法在临床治疗中的应用越来越多，逐渐出现了多种治疗抵抗机制。肿瘤微环境（TME）是癌症的一个组成部分，可以显着影响治疗反应。因此，值得探索 TME 在调节治疗耐药性方面的潜力，以期设计出新的策略来加强免疫治疗等抗癌治疗。作为复杂 TME 中的一个关键循环过程，自噬在肿瘤免疫中的作用越来越受到重视。第一，肿瘤细胞中的自噬可以通过调节MHC-I-抗原复合物影响其免疫反应，从而调节免疫原性肿瘤细胞死亡，通过分泌性自噬改变免疫细胞的功能，减少NK和CTL介导的细胞裂解和免疫检查点蛋白的降解. 其次，自噬对TME中免疫细胞的分化、成熟和存活至关重要，可以显着影响这些细胞的免疫功能，从而调节抗肿瘤免疫反应。第三，基质细胞，特别是成纤维细胞中自噬活性的改变，可以重建 TME 中的三维基质环境和代谢重编程。许多研究表明，当与免疫疗法相结合时，自噬的最佳诱导或抑制可能会导致有效的治疗方案。本综述讨论了自噬在肿瘤免疫背景下在肿瘤细胞、免疫细胞和基质细胞中的重要作用，以及将基于自噬的疗法与免疫疗法相结合作为抗癌新方法的潜力。