Immunogenic Cell Death (ICD)

Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is a form of regulated cell death that actively stimulates an adaptive anti-tumor immune response, rather than simply removing a cell quietly. Whether a dying cell’s death is immunogenic depends on three combined features: adjuvanticity (release of damage-associated molecular patterns, cytokines, and interferons that alarm the innate immune system), antigenicity (efficient presentation of tumor antigens to prime tumor-specific T cells), and a permissive pro-inflammatory context in the surrounding tissue. Necroptosis and pyroptosis are generally the most immunogenic death programs, apoptosis is immunogenic only when accompanied by NF-κB-driven cytokine production, and ferroptosis can actually impair dendritic cell antigen cross-presentation — making the mode of cancer cell death, not just its occurrence, a key determinant of whether cancer therapy provokes a lasting anti-tumor immune response.