可溶性T细胞免疫球蛋白和黏蛋白结构域3(sTIM3)的生物学功能及与肿瘤免疫治疗的研究进展

Research progress on the biological functions and tumor immunotherapy of soluble T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 3(sTIM3)

T细胞免疫球蛋白和黏蛋白结构域3(TIM3)是在多种免疫细胞中表达的一类免疫检查点蛋白,有膜型TIM3(mTIM3)和可溶性TIM3(sTIM3)两种形式。mTIM3和sTIM3可以结合同样的配体,但相较于mTIM3,对sTIM3的功能和作用机制了解尚少。临床上发现包括肿瘤在内的多种疾病患者的血浆sTIM3水平发生异常,目前的研究主要集中在将sTIM3作为生物标志物在肿瘤诊断和治疗监测中的潜力,而将其作为免疫治疗的靶点的研究开展较少。本文主要总结了sTIM3的产生、生物学功能及在肿瘤免疫治疗中的相关研究进展。

T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 3(TIM3)is an immune checkpoint protein expressed on various types of immune cells in two forms,namely membrane TIM3(mTIM3)and soluble TIM3(sTIM3).mTIM3 and sTIM3 share the same ligands,but less is known about functions and mechanisms of sTIM3 compared to those of mTlM3.Abnormal levels of plasma sTIM3 have been observed in patients with many diseases including cancer.Current research mainly focuses on the potential of sTIM3 as a biomarker for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.However,there are limited investigations on sTIM3 as a target for immunotherapy.This paper provides a literature review on the recent research progress of the production and biological functions of sTIM3 and its clinical significance in cancer immunotherapy.