Interferon-gamma: signaling pathways and their implications in cancer

Abstract

Interferons constitute a family of proteins involved in antiviral, immunomodulatory, and antiinflammatory activities. In the last years, the study of interferons in the cancer context has increased, and one of the most important findings is that interferons are part of the tumor microenvironment. The interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) is one of the members of the interferons family and has protumoral and antitumoral functions depending on the type of cancer and tumoral microenvironment. In this review, we discussed the elements of the canonical transduction pathway of IFN-γ and their implications for the study of malign neoplasms. Studies suggest that the elements of the pathway activated by IFN-γ could be useful as biomarkers and/or therapy targets against cancer.