Preconditioning thermal therapy: Flipping the switch on IL-6 for anti-tumour immunity

Abstract

Cancer immunotherapy aims to generate long-lived, tumour-specific adaptive immunity to limit dysregulated tumour progression and metastasis. Tumour vasculature has emerged as a critical checkpoint controlling the efficacy of immunotherapy since it is the main access point for cytotoxic T cells to reach tumour cell targets. Therapeutic success has been particularly challenging to achieve because of the local, cytokine-rich inflammatory milieu that drives a pro-tumourigenic programme supporting the growth and survival of malignant cells. Here, we focus on recent evidence that systemic thermal therapy can switch the activities of the inflammatory cytokine, interleukin-6 (IL-6), to a predominantly anti-tumourigenic function that promotes anti-tumour immunity by mobilising T cell trafficking in the recalcitrant tumour microenvironment.

• Immunotherapy
• interleukin-6
• lymphocyte trafficking
• systemic thermal therapy
• tumour vasculature

Acknowledgements

We thank our many collaborators for valuable contributions during the development of this work with special appreciation to Qing Chen for originally identifying the role of IL-6 in tumours and HEV. We also thank Karen Howard for the original illustrations.