Dendritic cell maturation versus polarization in tumor escape

Dendritic cells serve as key immunosurveillance agents throughout the body and orchestrate the coordinate innate and adaptive immune responses to antigenically complex cells and organisms that challenge the host. The ability of dendritic cells to promote beneficial versus irrelevant or even, counterproductive, immunity in the cancer setting depends to a large degree on the operational parameters displayed by the heterogeneous population of dendritic cells found in the tumor microenvironment. This chapter will discuss how tumors manipulate the state of maturation and type of functional polarization displayed by dendritic cells in order to affect immune escape.