Immunotherapy for cancer treatment
Authors:
K. Donátová; E. Nováková; M. Šupolíková
Authors‘ workplace:
Univerzita Komenského, Prírodovedecká fakulta, Katedra mikrobiológie a virológie, Bratislava, Slovenská republika
Published in:
Klin Onkol 2022; 35(4): 284-289
Category:
Review
doi:
https://doi.org/10.48095/ccko2022284
Overview
Background: Immunotherapy is an effective way to treat many diseases associated with disorders of the immune system by modulating immune response. It involves several ways of manipulating the immune system, which either suppress the immune response or, on the contrary, stimulates it. Immunotherapy is currently of immense importance not only in the context of the treatment of autoimmune diseases and immunodeficiencies, but it is also a promising method for treating cancer. Efforts to use the body‘s own anti-tumor response have led to the discovery of alternative treatments for cancer. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to provide a literature review focused on the current possibilities of cancer immunotherapy. In addition to classical procedures such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, treatments consisting of adoptive cell therapy and blockade of immune checkpoints are being increasingly indicated. The latest form of adoptive cell therapy is the use of T-lymphocytes expressing chimeric antigen receptors. This type of treatment is indicated for hematological cancers. In recent years, a new approach to the treatment of cancer has emerged using blockade of immune checkpoints by monoclonal antibodies. At present, antitumor therapy focuses on blocking of inhibitory molecules – cytotoxic T-lymfocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and programmed cell death 1 (PD-1). Administration of anti-CTLA-4 receptor specific monoclonal antibodies blocks binding between CTLA-4 receptors and B7 ligands, thereby preventing inhibition of activated cytotoxic T cells. Another type of checkpoints of the immune response include PD-1 molecules expressed on the surface of T-lymphocytes, B-lymphocytes, but also on the surface of myeloid cells. Blockade of PD-1 receptors and PD-L1 ligands prevents the inhibition of T-lymphocytes by tumor cells, leading to an increase in the immune system‘s ability to recognize tumor cells and subsequently destroy them. Blockade of PD-1 receptors and PD-L1 ligands prevents the inhibition of T-lymphocytes by tumor cells, leading to an increased immune response to the recognition of tumor cells and their subsequent destruction. An alternative form of tumor treatment is the administration of tumor vaccines and tumor-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). The use of mAbs to kill tumors requires the expression of tumor-specific antigens on the surface of tumor cells. Through these receptors, mAb targets cytotoxic cells, toxins, drugs, or radioisotopes to tumor cells and thereby destroys them. Also, mAbs are able to block angiogenesis, which is crucial in tumor cell proliferation.
Keywords:
tumor – immunotherapy – Vaccines – monoclonal antibody – CTLA-4 – PD-1 – adoptive cell therapy
Sources
1. Tannock IF. Conventional cancer therapy: promise broken or promise delayed? Lancet 1998; 351 (Suppl 2): 9–16. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736 (98) 90327-0.
2. Zhang H, Chen J. Current status and future directions of cancer immunotherapy. J Cancer 2018; 9 (10): 1773–1781. doi: 10.7150/jca.24577.
3. Závadová E. Onkologická imunologie. Praha: Mladá fronta 2015.
4. Weiner LM. Cancer immunology for the clinician. Clin Adv Hematol 2015; 13 (5): 299–306.
5. Galluzzi L, Vacchelli E, Pedro JMBS et al. Classification of current anticancer immunotherapies. Oncotarget 2014; 5 (24): 12472–12508. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.2998.
6. Zahavi D, Weiner L. Monoclonal antibodies in cancer therapy. Antibodies 2020; 9 (3): 34. doi: 10.3390/antib 9030034.
7. Lu RM, Hwang YC, Liu IJ et al. Development of therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of diseases. J Biomed Sci 2020; 27 (1): 1. doi: 10.1186/s12929-019-0592-z.
8. Maleki LA, Baradaran B, Majidi J et al. Future prospects of monoclonal antibodies as magic bullets in immunotherapy. Hum Antibodies 2013; 22 (1–2): 9–13. doi: 10.3233/HAB-130266.
9. Klener Jr P, Otahal P, Lateckova L et al. Immunotherapy approaches in cancer treatment. Curr Pharm Biotechnol 2015; 16 (9): 771–781. doi: 10.2174/1389201016666150619114554.
10. Baldo BA. Safety of biologics therapy. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing 2016.
11. Fiegl M, Stauder R, Steurer M et al. Alemtuzumab in chronic lymphocytic leukemia: final results of a large observational multicenter study in mostly pretreated patients. Ann Hematol 2014; 93 (2): 267–277. doi: 10.1007/s00277-013-1966-z.
12. Chen R, Chen B. Brentuximab vedotin for relapsed or refractory Hodgkin‘s lymphoma. Drug Des Devel Ther 2015; 9: 1729–1733. doi: 10.2147/DDDT.S82007.
13. Murphy K, Weaver C. Janeway‘s immunobiology. New York: Garland Science/Taylor & Francis Group 2016.
14. Ventola CL. Cancer immunotherapy, part 1: current strategies and agents. P T 2017; 42 (6): 375–383.
15. Wang J, Tian S, Sun J et al. The presence of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and the ratios between different subsets serve as prognostic factors in advanced hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. BMC Cancer 2020; 20 (1): 731. doi: 10.1186/s12885-020-07234-0.
16. Restifo NP, Dudley ME, Rosenberg SA. Adoptive immunotherapy for cancer: harnessing the T cell response. Nat Rev Immunol 2012; 12 (4): 269–281. doi: 10.1038/nri3 191.
17. Kusabuka H, Fujiwara K, Tokunaga Y et al. Highly efficient gene transfer using a retroviral vector into murine T cells for preclinical chimeric antigen receptor-expressing T cell therapy. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2016; 473 (1): 73–79. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2016.03.054.
18. Feins S, Kong W, Williams EF et al. An introduction to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy for human cancer. Am J Hematol 2019; 94 (S1): S3–S9. doi: 10.1002/ajh.25418.
19. Frey NV. Chimeric antigen receptor T cells for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Am J Hematol 2019; 94 (S1): 524–527. doi: 10.1002/ajh.25442.
20. Mancikova M, Smida M. Current state of CAR T-cell therapy in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22 (11): 5536. doi: 10.3390/ijms22115536.
21. Alatrash G, Jakher H, Stafford PD et al. Cancer immunotherapies, their safety and toxicity. Expert Opin Drug Saf 2013; 12 (5): 631–645. doi: 10.1517/14740338.2013.795944.
22. Calmeiro J, Carrascal MA, Tavares AR et al. Dendritic cell vaccines for cancer immunotherapy: the role of human conventional type 1 dendritic cells. Pharmaceutics 2020; 12 (2): 158. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics12020158.
23. Constantino J, Gomes C, Falcão A et al. Antitumor dendritic cell–based vaccines: lessons from 20 years of clinical trials and future perspectives. Transl Res 2015; 168: 74–95. doi: 10.1016/j.trsl.2015.07.008.
24. Kantoff PW, Higano CS, Shore ND et al. Sipuleucel-T immunotherapy for castration-resistant prostate cancer. N Engl J Med 2010; 363 (5): 411–422. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1001294.
25. Romo-Tena J, Gómez-Martín D, Alcocer-Varela J. CTLA-4 and autoimmunity: new insights into the dual regulator of tolerance. Autoimmun Rev 2013; 12 (12): 1171–1176. doi: 10.1016/j.autrev.2013.07.002.
26. Perkins D, Wang Z, Donovan C et al. Regulation of CTLA-4 expression during T cell activation. J Immunol 1996; 156 (11): 4154–4159.
27. Waldman AD, Fritz JM, Lenardo MJ. A guide to cancer immunotherapy: from T cell basic science to clinical practice. Nat Rev Immunol 2020; 20 (11): 651–668. doi: 10.1038/s41577-020-0306-5.
28. Han Y, Liu D, Li L. PD-1/PD-L1 pathway: current researches in cancer. Am J Cancer Res 2020; 10 (3): 727–742.
29. ENO J. Immunotherapy through the years. J Adv Pract Oncol 2017; 8 (7): 747–753.
30. Juřica J. Mechanizmy imunitně podmíněných nežádoucích účinků checkpoint inhibitorů. Abstrakt VII/66. Klin Onkol 2021; 34 (Suppl 2): 2S37.
31. Martins F, Sofiya L, Sykiotis GP et al. Adverse effects of immune-checkpoint inhibitors: epidemiology, management and surveillance. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 2019; 16 (9): 563–580. doi: 10.1038/s41571-019-0218-0.
32. Bořilová S, Fabian P, Zdražilová Dubská L et al. Predikce odpovědi na léčbu imunoterapií checkpoint inhibitory u pacientů s pokročilými solidními nádory. Klin Onkol 2021; 34 (Suppl 2): 2S107–2S109.
Labels
Paediatric clinical oncology Surgery Clinical oncologyArticle was published in
Clinical Oncology
2022 Issue 4
Most read in this issue
- Olanzapine in oncology palliative care
- Immunotherapy for cancer treatment
- Rosai-Dorfman-Destombes disease – histiocytic disorder with infl ammatory manifestation
- How fatigue affects return to work in breast cancer patients