Immunotherapy Landscape in Prostate Cancer: Sucesses, Failures and Promises

Abstract

As research focus in oncology has recently shifted to immunomodulation, the era of introduction of immunotherapeutic agents in the management of prostate cancer has just begun. With the success of checkpoint blockade drugs in certain advanced tumours, ongoing efforts are aimed at identification and validation of new actionable immune targets to consolidate and expand the initial success in other tumour types. In this paper, we review the immunotherapy research in the management of prostate cancer to date, as well as the various emerging immunotherapeutic agents and their possible use. Although monotherapy has thus far had disappointing results in prostate cancer, promising combination strategies are under evaluation.

Keywords

• prostate cancer; immunotherapy; immunomodulation; combination therapy