Figure 1. The Renal Cell Carcinoma Cancer-Immunity Cycle.

This cycle is based on the original cancer-immunity cycle proposed by Chen & Mellman¹¹. The cycle steps and factors affecting ICI response are edited to reflect the specificities of clear cell renal cell carcinoma tumors.

ERV: Endogenous Retroviruses; RCC: Renal cell carcinoma; TMB: Tumor Mutational Burden; TLS: Tertiary Lymphoid Structures; APC: Antigen Presenting Cell; IL-8: Interleukin-8; VEGF: Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor; ICI: Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor

NOTE: Permission for reproduction of this figure was not granted by the publisher. For Figure 1, please refer to Figure 1 in the manuscript by Braun et al.:

Braun DA, Bakouny Z, Hirsch L, Flippot R, Van Allen EM, Wu CJ, Choueiri TK. Beyond conventional immune-checkpoint inhibition - novel immunotherapies for renal cell carcinoma. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2021 04; 18(4):199–214.