What is cancer immunotherapy?
Cancer immunotherapy refers to the simultaneous de-inhibition and stimulation of one’s own immune system to combat cancer. It is a fast-growing area of research and development and many amazing bench-top ideas have been successfully translated to bedside treatment.
Generally speaking, cancer immunotherapy is classified into six areas:5
- Immune checkpoint inhibitors (Drugs that block proteins on immune cells, to allow them to fight cancer)
- Monoclonal antibody drugs (Antibodies used to boost the immune system)
- Immune modulators (Use of interleukins, interferons, etc. to boost the immune system)
- Cancer vaccines (Used to prevent or treat cancer; made from dead cells or proteins)
- Oncolytic virus therapy (One oncolytic virus, talimogene laherparepvec [T-VEC, Imlygic] has been approved to treat metastatic melanoma)
- Adoptive cell therapy (T-cell transfer therapy: boosting the numbers, or altering the cells to kill more cancer);
- CAR-T therapy is one of the most popular adoptive cell therapies (Special receptors are added to T-cell surfaces to lock in and destroy specific cancers)
For this topic section, the focus will be on how HLA shapes CAR-T therapy.
