Asghar K, Farooq A, Zulfiqar B, Rashid MU. Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase: As a potential prognostic marker and immunotherapeutic target for hepatocellular carcinoma. World J Gastroenterol 2017; 23(13): 2286-2293 [PMID: 28428708 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i13.2286]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dr. Kashif Asghar, Department of Basic Sciences Research, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, 7-A Block R-3, Johar Town, Lahore 54000, Pakistan. kashifasghar@skm.org.pk
Research Domain of This Article
Immunology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 7, 2017; 23(13): 2286-2293 Published online Apr 7, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i13.2286
Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase: As a potential prognostic marker and immunotherapeutic target for hepatocellular carcinoma
Kashif Asghar, Asim Farooq, Bilal Zulfiqar, Muhammad Usman Rashid
Kashif Asghar, Asim Farooq, Muhammad Usman Rashid, Department of Basic Sciences Research, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore 54000, Pakistan
Asim Farooq, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Bilal Zulfiqar, Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery, Griffith University, Nathan QLD 4111, Australia
Author contributions: Asghar K reviewed the literature and wrote the manuscript; Farooq A reviewed the literature and wrote the manuscript; Zulfiqar B reviewed the literature and made the figure; Rashid MU reviewed the literature, critically edited the manuscript and approved the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interest for this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Kashif Asghar, Department of Basic Sciences Research, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, 7-A Block R-3, Johar Town, Lahore 54000, Pakistan. kashifasghar@skm.org.pk
Telephone: +92-42-35905000 Fax: +92-42-35945206
Received: December 29, 2016 Peer-review started: January 3, 2017 First decision: February 10, 2017 Revised: February 13, 2017 Accepted: March 15, 2017 Article in press: March 15, 2017 Published online: April 7, 2017
Abstract
Tumor cells induce an immunosuppressive microenvironment which leads towards tumor immune escape. Understanding the intricacy of immunomodulation by tumor cells is essential for immunotherapy. Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is an immunosuppressive enzyme which mediates tumor immune escape in various cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). IDO up-regulation in HCC may lead to recruitment of regulatory T-cells into tumor microenvironment and therefore inhibit local immune responses and promote metastasis. HCC associated fibroblasts stimulate natural killer cells dysfunction through prostaglandin E2 and subsequently IDO promotes favorable condition for tumor metastasis. IDO up-regulation induces immunosuppression and may enhance the risk of hepatitis C virus and hepatitis B virus induced HCC. Therefore, IDO inhibitors as adjuvant therapeutic agents may have clinical implications in HCC. This review proposes future prospects of IDO not only as a therapeutic target but also as a prognostic marker for HCC.
Core tip: Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is an immunosuppressive enzyme which mediates tumor immune escape in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). IDO up-regulation in HCC may lead to recruitment of regulatory T-cells into tumor microenvironment and therefore inhibit local immune responses and promote metastasis. IDO inhibitors as adjuvant therapeutic agents may have clinical implications in HCC.
