Immunology and immunotherapy in gastric cancer

Gastric cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. As the diagnosis of early gastric cancer is difficult, most patients are at a late stage of cancer progression when diagnosed. The current therapeutic approaches based on surgical or endoscopic resection and chemotherapy indeed improve patients’ outcomes. Immunotherapy based on immune checkpoint inhibitors has opened a new era for cancer treatment, and the immune system of the host is reshaped to combat tumor cells and the strategy differs according to the patient’s immune system. Thus, an in-depth understanding of the roles of various immune cells in the progression of gastric cancer is beneficial to application for immunotherapy and the discovery of new therapeutic targets. This review describes the functions of different immune cells in gastric cancer development, mainly focusing on T cells, B cells, macrophages, natural killer cells, dendritic cells, neutrophils as well as chemokines or cytokines secreted by tumor cells. And this review also discusses the latest advances in immune-related therapeutic approaches such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, CAR-T or vaccine, to reveal potential and promising strategies for gastric cancer treatment.