Update on Immunotherapies for Cancer

Dear Colleagues,

The cancer immunotherapy field has made great progress, with new overarching concepts demonstrating clinical successes in recent years. The initial successes of blocking or antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), inducing HER2-specific antibodies, are now complemented in clinical trials by a range of antibody–drug conjugates and bispecific and trispecific antibodies. Their potential for eliciting increasing clinical efficacy via combinatorial approaches will grow significantly with the implementation of new combinations with reduced toxicities and preserved or improved efficacies, such as the recently approved anti-PD1 and anti-LAG3 combination therapy. Tumor-infiltrating T cell therapies have proven their worth in phase 3 trials and been developed into a range of cloned TCR and chimeric antigen receptor cellular therapies that are conquering hematological malignancies. The oldest immunotherapy principle of supplying danger signals within tumors is becoming increasingly refined and diverse with the use of molecular adjuvants, oncolytic virotherapies, and chemotherapy and radiotherapies. Perhaps most excitingly, the last couple of years have shown the entry of a new generation of cancer vaccines that are technologically ambitious using genetically modified vectors, and we are starting to see clinical trials with treatment in the adjuvant setting where patients have minimal residual tumor burden. These pivotal technological and clinical changes now provide meaningful clinical benefits in solid tumors, including those with minimal mutational burden where the outlook for long-term meaningful responses would have previously looked poor. In this Special Edition of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, we will highlight recent breakthroughs and point towards the major challenges remaining.      

Dr. Peter Johannes Holst
Guest Editor

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• cell therapies
• monoclonal antibodies
• molecular adjuvants
• oncolytic therapies
• immunogenic
• chemotherapy and radiotherapy
• cancer vaccines
• immunodominance
• neoantigens
• clinical trials
• tumor immune microenvironment