# Conquering aging-related immunosenescence and tumor immune escape

**Authors:** Shanshan Zhang, Bo Yang, Mingyi Xu, Ying Bing, Jiwang Zhang, Yuanxin Wang, Chaohui Zheng, Gang Zhang, Leisheng Zhang

PMC · DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2026.1785351 · Frontiers in Immunology · 2026-03-10

## TL;DR

This paper reviews how aging weakens the immune system's ability to fight cancer and suggests ways to improve immunotherapy in older patients.

## Contribution

The paper provides a comprehensive review of aging's impact on tumor immune escape and proposes novel therapeutic strategies.

## Key findings

- Aging-related changes like DNA damage and SASP promote tumor growth and immune suppression.
- Immunosenescence reduces antigen presentation and disrupts immune signaling in tumors.
- Senescent cell clearance and SASP modulation may enhance immunotherapy effectiveness in elderly patients.

## Abstract

With global population aging, senescence has emerged as a key driver of tumorigenesis. Aging-associated molecular changes, including DNA damage, telomere shortening, and epigenetic dysregulation, increase malignancy, while immunosenescence and the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), reshape the tumor microenvironment to favor immune suppression and tumor escape. Aging also impairs antigen presentation, disrupts ligand-receptor signaling, and compromises tumor suppressive pathways. In the era of immunotherapy, elderly patients face reduced efficacy and increased resistance due to age-related immune remodeling. This review summarizes mechanisms of tumor immune escape in aging and discusses strategies to improve outcomes, such as senescent cell clearance, SASP modulation, immune potentiation, and combination therapies.

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** malignancy (MESH:D009369), tumorigenesis (MESH:D063646)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Full text

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## Figures

4 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC13008850/full.md

## References

165 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC13008850/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC13008850