The emerging role of cancer cell plasticity and cell-cycle quiescence in immune escape

Molecular programs that control the function and the phenotype of stem cells are also active in cancer and confer properties that promote progression and resistance to therapy. Likewise, the specific properties that enable long-lived stem cells to evade immune surveillance can be co-opted by latent cancer cells responsible for tumour initiation as well as metastatic outbreak. Following the clinical success of anticancer immunotherapy in recent years, greater focus has been placed on the interplay between cancer cells and the tumour immune microenvironment. However, the link between stem-cell-like tumour phenotype and the immunological properties of cancer has not yet been systematically explored. New evidence discussed in this article, stemming from sophisticated approaches that make use of lineage tracing and single-cell analysis, provide strong proof of a link between cancer stem cells, tumour cell plasticity, cell-cycle quiescence and immune suppression in cancer.

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