Nasopharyngeal carcinoma and tumor escape

Tumor immune evasion is a hallmark of cancer. There are many mechanisms of tumor escape, which mainly include the direct immune escape of tumor and tumor microenvironment mediated immune escape. Recent studies have shown that the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and its tumor cells are closely related to the immune escape. The direct immune escape of tumor which is associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma including the expression decreased or absent of the major histocompatibility complex-Ⅰ on the surface of tumor cell, the lack of costimulatory molecules of tumor and the Fas/FasL system mediated immune escape. And the tumor microenvironment mediated immune escape which is associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma including the immunosuppressive molecule and the immunosuppressive cells of tumor. Researches on the mechanisms of tumor immune evasion can provide new target for treatment and prevention of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Key words: Nasopharyngeal neoplasms; Tumor escape