Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Cancer immunology

A protective role for interferon-ε in ovarian cancer

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 23, page 616 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Interferon-ε (IFNε) is a unique type I IFN that is constitutively expressed by epithelial cells in the female reproductive tract (FRT), where it shows antimicrobial activities. Here, Marks et al. report that IFNε also has anti-tumour functions in the FRT. They found that IFNε is constitutively expressed by epithelial cells in the fallopian tubes of healthy women, but significantly suppressed in low-grade and high-grade serous ovarian cancers. In mouse models of ovarian cancer, increased metastasis to the peritoneum occurred in IFNε-deficient mice, whereas treatment of wild-type mice with IFNε reduced peritoneal metastases in a dose-dependent manner. Treatment with IFNε also suppressed the spread of established ovarian cancers in mice. The authors identified both direct and indirect modes of action — IFNε had pro-apoptotic and anti-proliferative effects on tumour cells, and promoted the activation and cytotoxic functions of T cells and natural killer cells in the peritoneum while suppressing immunosuppressive populations. Notably, IFNε therapy could still suppress the spread of ovarian tumours deficient in IFN receptor signalling. Thus, IFNε therapy could be effective against tumours that have developed resistance to IFN stimulation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

Original article

  • Marks, Z. R. et al. Interferon-ε is a tumour suppressor and restricts ovarian cancer. Nature 620, 1063–1070 (2023)

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nature Reviews Immunology http://www.nature.com/nri/

    Yvonne Bordon

Authors
  1. Yvonne Bordon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yvonne Bordon.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bordon, Y. A protective role for interferon-ε in ovarian cancer. Nat Rev Immunol 23, 616 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-023-00945-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-023-00945-y

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing