Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Biochim Biophys Acta Rev Cancer. 2021 Dec 18;1877(1):188671. doi: 10.1016/j.bbcan.2021.188671

Figure 3. Multiple escape mechanisms at each immunity step provide an opportunity for immune escape and selection of an immune-evasive tumor.

Figure 3.

An immune-sensitive tumor contains intact immunity steps. At each step there are multiple opportunities for immune escape to occur, selecting for immune evasive cells. Elimination of immune-sensitive clones selects for cells with a variety of immune evasive properties. These cells are free to expand into immunologically heterogeneous, clinically detectable lesions. The diversity of immune escape mechanisms represented in this tumor reveals how immunotherapeutic approaches targeting only one mechanism of immune escape will select for clones with alternative escape mechanisms. Thus, a small biopsy may not reveal the heterogeneity of immune escape mechanisms present within a tumor.