Cancer immunotherapy has become a new generation of anti-tumor treatment, but its indications still focus on several types of tumors that are sensitive to the immune system. Therefore, effective strategies that can expand its indications and enhance its efficiency become the key element for the further development of cancer immunotherapy. Natural products are reported to have this effect on cancer immunotherapy, including cancer vaccines, immune-check points inhibitors, and adoptive immune-cells therapy. And the mechanism of that is mainly attributed to the remodeling of the tumor-immunosuppressive microenvironment, which is the key factor that assists tumor to avoid the recognition and attack from immune system and cancer immunotherapy. Therefore, this review summarizes and concludes the natural products that reportedly improve cancer immunotherapy and investigates the mechanism. And we found that saponins, polysaccharides, and flavonoids are mainly three categories of natural products, which reflected significant effects combined with cancer immunotherapy through reversing the tumor-immunosuppressive microenvironment. Besides, this review also collected the studies about nano-technology used to improve the disadvantages of natural products. All of these studies showed the great potential of natural products in cancer immunotherapy.

The graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HCT) is critical for its curative potential. Hwever, GVL is tightly linked to graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Among hematological malignancies, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most resistant to GVL, although the reasons for this remain poorly understood. Clinical studies have identified alterations in Ikaros (Ik) transcription factor as the major marker associated with poor outcomes in ALL. We have shown that the absence of Ik in professional host-derived hematopoietic antigen-presenting cells (APCs) exacerbates GVHD. However, whether Ik expression plays a role in resistance to GVL is not known. In this study we used multiple clinically relevant murine models of allo-HCT to explore whether Ik expression in hematopoietic APCs and/or leukemic cells is critical for increasing resistance to GVL and thus inducing relapse. We found that Ik deficiency in host APCs failed to enhance GVL despite increased GVHD severity. Mechanistic studies with bone marrow (BM) chimeras and tetramer analyses demonstrated reduced tumor-specific immunodominant (gag+) antigen responses in the [B6Ik-/-→B6] group. Loss of GVL was observed when both the leukemia cells and the host APCs were deficient in Ik. We found that calreticulin (CRT) expression in host antigen-presenting dendritic cells (DCs) of Ik-/- animals was significantly lower than in wild-type animals. Rescuing CRT expression in Ik-/- DCs improved leukemic-specific cytotoxic T cell function. Together, our data demonstrate that the absence of Ikaros in host hematopoietic cells promotes resistance to GVL despite increasing GVHD and thus provides a potential mechanism for the poor outcome of Ik-/- ALL patients.

Cross-reactive peptides on HIV-1 and FIV p24 protein sequences were studied using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from untreated HIV-1-infected long-term survivors (LTS; >10 y of infection without antiretroviral therapy, ART), short-term HIV-1 infected subjects not on ART, and ART-treated HIV-1 infected subjects. IFNγ-ELISpot and CFSE-proliferation analyses were performed with PBMC using overlapping HIV-1 and FIV p24 peptides. Over half of the HIV-1 infected subjects tested (22/31 or 71%) responded to one or more FIV p24 peptide pools by either IFNγ or T-cell proliferation analysis. PBMC and T cells from infected subjects in all 3 HIV(+) groups predominantly recognized one FIV p24 peptide pool (Fp14) by IFNγ production and one additional FIV p24 peptide pool (Fp9) by T-cell proliferation analysis. Furthermore, evaluation of overlapping SIV p24 peptide sequences identified conserved epitope(s) on the Fp14/Hp15-counterpart of SIV, Sp14, but none on Fp9-counterpart of SIV, Sp9. The responses to these FIV peptide pools were highly reproducible and persisted throughout 2-4 y of monitoring. Intracellular staining analysis for cytotoxins and phenotyping for CD107a determined that peptide epitopes from Fp9 and Fp14 pools induced cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated molecules including perforin, granzyme B, granzyme A, and/or expression of CD107a. Selected FIV and corresponding SIV epitopes recognized by HIV-1 infected patients indicate that these protein sequences are evolutionarily conserved on both SIV and HIV-1 (e.g., Hp15:Fp14:Sp14). These studies demonstrate that comparative immunogenicity analysis of HIV-1, FIV, and SIV can identify evolutionarily-conserved T cell-associated lentiviral epitopes, which could be used as a vaccine for prophylaxis or immunotherapy.