Clinically localized prostate cancer is often treated with radical prostatectomy combined with pelvic lymph node dissection. Data suggest that lymph node dissection does improve disease staging, but its therapeutic value has often been debated, with few studies showing that lymph node removal directly improves oncological outcomes; however, lymph nodes are an important first site of antigen recognition and immune system activation and the success of many currently used immunological therapies hinges on this dogma. Evidence, particularly in the preclinical setting, has demonstrated that the success of immune checkpoint inhibitors is dampened by the removal of tumour-draining lymph nodes. Thus, whether lymph nodes are truly ‘foes’ or whether they are actually ‘friends’ in oncological care is an important idea to discuss.

临床局限性前列腺癌通常采用根治性前列腺切除术联合盆腔淋巴结清扫术进行治疗。数据表明，淋巴结清扫术确实可以改善疾病分期，但其治疗价值经常引起争论，很少有研究表明淋巴结切除直接改善肿瘤学结局;然而，淋巴结是抗原识别和免疫系统激活的重要第一个部位，目前许多免疫疗法的成功取决于这一教条。证据，特别是在临床前环境中的证据表明，免疫检查点抑制剂的成功会因去除肿瘤引流淋巴结而受到抑制。因此，淋巴结是否真的是“敌人”，或者它们是否真的是肿瘤护理中的“朋友”是一个值得讨论的重要概念。