Dismantling the tumoral cloak of self-protection.

Tumors protect themselves from immune clearance by promoting extramedullary hematopoiesis. A new study in PLOS Biology provides insights into the mechanisms underlying this process, which may hold the key to disrupting generation of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.

Chronic inflammation can transform the fate of normal and mutant hematopoietic stem cells.

Chronic inflammation, although subtle, puts the body in a constant state of alertness and is associated with many diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases. It leads hematopoietic cells to produce and release proinflammatory cytokines, which trigger specific signaling pathways in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that cause changes in proliferation, differentiation, and migration. This response is essential when HSCs are needed to produce specific blood cells to eliminate an intruder, such as a pathogenic virus, but mutant HSCs can use these proinflammatory signals to their advantage and accelerate the development of hematologic disease or malignancy. Understanding this complex process is vital for monitoring and controlling disease progression in patients. In the 2023 International Society for Experimental Hematology winter webinar, Dr. Eric Pietras (University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, United States) and Dr. Katherine Y. King (Baylor College of Medicine, United States) gave a presentation on this topic, which is summarized in this review article.