Immunology and Biotherapies

#endcancer
#Cancer #Immunotherapy and Breaking Immune Tolerance
http://t.co/Lt4cqntj4b

 

Abstract

Cancer immunotherapy has proven to be challenging as it depends on overcoming multiple mechanisms that mediate immune tolerance to self-antigens. A growing understanding of immune tolerance has been the foundation for new approaches to cancer immunotherapy. Adoptive transfer of immune effectors such as antitumor mAb and chimeric antigen receptor T cells bypasses many of the mechanisms involved in immune tolerance by allowing for expansion of tumor-specific effectors ex vivo. Vaccination with whole tumor cells, protein, peptide, or dendritic cells has proven challenging, yet may be more useful when combined with other cancer immunotherapeutic strategies. Immunomodulatory approaches to cancer immunotherapy include treatment with agents that enhance and maintain T-cell activation. Recent advances in the use of checkpoint blockade to block negative signals and to maintain the antitumor response are particularly exciting. With our growing knowledge of immune tolerance and ways to overcome it, combination treatments are being developed, tested, and have particular promise. One example is in situimmunization that is designed to break tolerance within the tumor microenvironment. Progress in all these areas is continuing based on clear evidence that cancer immunotherapy designed to overcome immune tolerance can be useful for a growing number of patients with cancer. Cancer Res; 75(1); 5–10. ©2014 AACR.

Via Krishan Maggon

Immunotherapies for cancer are demonstrating increasing success. These agents can amplify existent antitumour immunity or induce durable antitumour immune responses in a wide array of cancers. The spectrum of immunotherapeutics is broad, spanning monoclonal antibodies and their derivatives, tumour vaccines, and adoptive therapies using T cells and natural killer cells.

Only a small number of immunotherapies have been tested in paediatric cancers, but impressive antitumour effects have already been observed. Mononclonal antibodies targeting GD2 that induce antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity improve survival in high-risk neuroblastoma. Bi-specific monoclonal antibodies that simultaneously target CD19 and activate T cells can induce remission in acute B-cell lymphoblastic leukaemia (B-ALL) and adoptive immunotherapy using T cells genetically engineered to express chimeric antigen receptors targeting CD19 induce impressive responses in B-ALL. Efforts are underway to generate and test new immunotherapies in a wider array of paediatric cancers. Major challenges include a need to identify immunotherapy targets on the most lethal childhood cancers, to expand availability of technology-intense platforms, such as adoptive cell therapy, to optimize management of novel toxicities associated with this new class of cancer therapies and to determine how best to incorporate these therapies into standard treatment paradigms.

Via Krishan Maggon