Eosinophils and Lung Cancer: From Bench to Bedside

Eosinophils are rare, multifunctional granulocytes. Their growth, survival, and tissue migration mainly depend on interleukin (IL)-5 in physiological conditions and on IL-5 and IL-33 in inflammatory conditions. Preclinical evidence supports an immunological role for eosinophils as innate immune cells and as agents of the adaptive immune response. In addition to these data, several reports show a link between the outcomes of patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) for advanced cancers and blood eosinophilia. In this review, we present, in the context of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the biological properties of eosinophils and their roles in homeostatic and pathological conditions, with a focus on their pro- and anti-tumorigenic effects. We examine the possible explanations for blood eosinophilia during NSCLC treatment with ICI. In particular, we discuss the value of eosinophils as a potential prognostic and predictive biomarker, highlighting the need for stronger clinical data. Finally, we conclude with perspectives on clinical and translational research topics on this subject.

• Publication year

  2022

• Venue

  International Journal of Molecular Sciences

• Publication date

  2022-05-01

• Fields of study

  Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3390/ijms23095066PMID 35563461PMCID 9101877
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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