Immunotherapy for cancer: What approaches are available?
Immunotherapy is not a single treatment. Different approaches act at different points in the immune system and have different levels of evidence and approval depending on the tumour type.
What does cancer immunotherapy mean?
Immuno-oncology approaches aim to strengthen, release the brakes on, or specifically direct existing or therapeutically induced immune responses against tumour cells.
Important groups
- Checkpoint inhibitors: approved medicines for defined tumour types and biomarkers.
- CAR T-cell therapy: established cell therapy, especially for selected haematological diseases.
- Therapeutic cancer vaccines: strategies for targeted antigen presentation.
- Dendritic-cell approaches: patient-specific antigen-presenting cell products whose evidence varies by tumour type and protocol.
Why tumour type and biomarkers are crucial
PD-L1, MSI/MMR, HER2, EGFR, BRAF, BRCA, IDH, MGMT and other markers can significantly influence treatment planning. The appropriate strategy can therefore only be assessed in the specific medical context.
Dendritic cells in immuno-oncology
Ralph M. Steinman received the 2011 Nobel Prize for the discovery of dendritic cells and their role in adaptive immunity. Dendritic cells have been a focus of research into antigen presentation and therapeutic vaccine concepts for decades.