Mini-review: The Distinct Roles of STING Signaling in Tumor Immunity-Recent Progress.

New strategies targeting stimulator of interferon genes (STING) proteins appear promising for eliciting immunotherapeutic responses. Activation of the STING pathway under the right circumstances can drive dendritic cell maturation, antitumor macrophage differentiation, T cell initiation and activation, natural killer cell activation, vascular reprogramming and/or cancer cell death, leading to immune-mediated tumor elimination and generation of antitumor immune memory. However, activation of the STING signaling pathway is complicated in tumor immunity. On one hand, there has been shown that STING signaling promoted tumor growth. On the other hand, cGAS-STING pathway has great potential for regulating antitumor immunity. The development of activators of the cGAS-STING pathway may profoundly chang tumor immunotherapy, providing an excellent direction for the development and clinical application of immunotherapeutic strategies for related diseases.This review provides a concise summary of the role of the STING pathway in tumors in recent years.