Immunogenic Cell Death

Tumor cells have acquired mechanisms to resist anti-tumor immunity. The ability to evade the immune system is an important step for tumor establishment. As part of the tumor microenvironment (TME), normal cells are recruited to the tumor or altered by the tumor to form the tumor-associated stroma, which is important for tumor etiology and progression. Understanding the molecular signaling and extracellular interactions involved in this process allows for the development of novel therapies to overcome tumor immunity. Induction of immunogenic cell death (ICD) is a type of cell death eliciting an immune response and it is a relevant target to disrupt the immunosuppressive TME and promote immune surveillance. ICD may be induced by radiation, chemotherapeutics, and targeted therapies. ICD is associated with several processes in dying cells including calreticulin cell-surface translocation, extracellular release of damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) such as HMGB1, heat shock proteins, and the production of Type I interferons. The Immunogenic Cell Death Primer Library contains 88 primer sets to amplify genes associated with ICD and DAMPs.