UC San Diego

The environment surrounding a tumor, known as the tumor microenvironment (TME), plays a role in how cancer progresses and responds to treatment. It poses both challenges and opportunities for improving cancer therapy. Recent progress in understanding the TME complexity and diversity has led to approaches for treating cancer. This perspective discusses the strategies for targeting the TME, such as adjusting networks using extracellular vesicles to deliver drugs and enhancing immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIS) through combined treatments. Furthermore, it highlights adoptive cell transfer (ACT) therapies as an option for tumors. By studying how components of the TME interact and utilizing technologies like single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics, we can develop more precise and efficient treatments for cancer. This article emphasizes the need to reshape the TME to boost antitumor immunity and overcome resistance to therapy, providing guidance for research and clinical practices in precision oncology.