Myeloid suppressor cells in cancer: recruitment, phenotype, properties, and mechanisms of immune suppression.

Growing tumors acquire the ability to resist immune recognition and immune-mediated injury. Among several mechanisms, mouse and human tumors share the ability to alter the normal hematopoiesis, leading to accumulation of cells of the myelo-monoctytic lineage at the tumor site and in different primary and secondary lymphoid organs. These cells aid tumor development by providing molecules and factors essential for tumor growth and neovascularization but also exert a profound inhibitory activity on both tumor-specific and nonspecific T lymphocytes. The present article summarizes recent findings on the interaction between developing cancers and these recently described "myeloid suppressor cells".