Characteristics of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma immune microenvironment and related immunotherapy strategies

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is one of the common malignant tumors of the digestive tract. It has the characteristics of strong occlusion, aggressiveness, easy metastasis, and resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Therefore, its five-year survival rate is extremely low, with a rate of less than 8%. Looking for a new treatment is an urgent need to improve the prognosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. In recent years, a large number of clinical trials have been carried out, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, monoclonal antibodies to important antigens, and immune cell therapy. However, it is disappointing that no satisfactory clinical benefits have been achieved. The special microenvironment of pancreatic cancer nests makes immunotherapy not as effective as other malignant tumors. This article introduces the characteristics of the suppressive immune microenvironment of pancreatic cancer and the latest clinical studies of different types of immunotherapy at home and abroad, and analyzes the mechanisms and potentials of combined treatment based on the characteristics of the immune microenvironment.