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Immune System Effects on Breast Cancer

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Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women, with the ability to metastasize to secondary organs, which is the main cause of cancer-related deaths. Understanding how breast tumors progress is essential for developing better treatment strategies against breast cancer. Until recently, it has been considered that breast cancer elicits a small immune response. However, it is now clear that breast tumor progression is either prevented by the action of antitumor immunity or exacerbated by proinflammatory cytokines released mainly by the immune cells. In this comprehensive review we first explain antitumor immunity, then continue with how the tumor suppresses and evades the immune response, and next, outline the role of inflammation in breast tumor initiation and progression. We finally review the current immunotherapeutic and immunoengineering strategies against breast cancer as a promising emerging approach for the discovery and design of immune system-based strategies for breast cancer treatment.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by NIH Award Number 5R01EB027660-02 and Walther Cancer Foundation, Harper Cancer Research Institute Cancer Cure Ventures Award number 0184.01.

Conflict of interest

Jensen N. Amens, Gökhan Bahçecioglu, and Pinar Zorlutuna declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA

    Jensen N. Amens, Gökhan Bahçecioglu & Pinar Zorlutuna

  2. Bioengineering Graduate Program, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA

    Pinar Zorlutuna

  3. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA

    Pinar Zorlutuna

  4. Harper Cancer Research Institute, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA

    Pinar Zorlutuna

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  1. Jensen N. Amens
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Correspondence to Pinar Zorlutuna.

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Amens, J.N., Bahçecioglu, G. & Zorlutuna, P. Immune System Effects on Breast Cancer. Cel. Mol. Bioeng. 14, 279–292 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12195-021-00679-8

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