ImmunoTargets and Therapy (Jun 2013)
Update on the challenges and recent advances in cancer immunotherapy
Abstract
Gianfranco Baronzio,1 Gurdev Parmar,2 Irina ZH Shubina,3 Valter Cassutti,1 Sergio Giuli,1 Marco Ballerini,1 Mikhail Kiselevsky3 1Centro Medico Demetra: Hyperthermia and Immunity Center, Terni, Italy; 2Integrated Health Clinic, Fort Langley, British Columbia, Canada; 3Blokhin Cancer Research Center, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow, Russia Abstract: This overview provides an analysis of some of the immunotherapies currently in use and under investigation, with a special focus on the tumor microenvironment, which we believe is a major factor responsible for the general failure of immunotherapy to date. It is our expectation that combining immunotherapy with methods of altering the tumor microenvironment and targeting regulatory T cells and myeloid cells will yield favorable results. Keywords: tumor microenvironment, tumor immunity, immunosuppression, CTLA-4, PD-1, exosomes, myeloid-derived suppressor cells, Tregs