Metastasis, the spread of cancer from a primary site to distant organs, is an important challenge in oncology. This Review explores the complexities of immune escape mechanisms used throughout the metastatic cascade to promote tumor cell dissemination and affect organotropism. Specifically, we focus on adaptive plasticity of disseminated epithelial tumor cells to understand how they undergo phenotypic transitions to survive microenvironmental conditions encountered during metastasis. The interaction of tumor cells and their microenvironment is analyzed, highlighting the local and systemic effects that innate and adaptive immune systems have in shaping an immunosuppressive milieu to foster aggressive metastatic tumors. Effectively managing metastatic disease demands a multipronged approach to target the parallel and sequential mechanisms that suppress anti-tumor immunity. This management necessitates a deep understanding of the complex interplay between tumor cells, their microenvironment and immune responses that we provide with this Review.

转移，即癌症从原发部位扩散到远处器官，是肿瘤学中的一个重要挑战。本综述探讨了在整个转移级联中用于促进肿瘤细胞传播和影响器官倾向的免疫逃逸机制的复杂性。具体来说，我们专注于播散性上皮肿瘤细胞的适应性可塑性，以了解它们如何经历表型转变以在转移过程中遇到的微环境条件下生存。分析了肿瘤细胞与其微环境的相互作用，强调了先天性和适应性免疫系统在塑造免疫抑制环境以促进侵袭性转移肿瘤方面的局部和全身效应。有效管理转移性疾病需要采取多管齐下的方法来针对抑制抗肿瘤免疫的并行和顺序机制。这种管理需要深入了解肿瘤细胞、其微环境和我们在本综述中提供的免疫反应之间复杂的相互作用。