Research Progress on Immunoregulation of Chemotherapeutic Agents

Abstract

Chemotherapeutic drugs are the mainstay of treatment on mid-advanced tumors. In recent years, more and more studies have shown that chemotherapeutic drugs also have immunomodulatory effects. Some chemotherapeutic drugs can enhance anti-tumor immunity by inducing tumor cell immunogenic cell death or performing "immunogenic modulation". In addition, chemotherapeutic drugs can also act on immune cells and even the intestinal flora. A number of clinical trials of chemotherapy combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors are currently underway. This article focuses on the immunomodulatory effect of chemotherapeutic drugs, as well as the potential of chemotherapy combined with ICI on cancer, to provide guidance for the clinical application of chemotherapeutic drugs.

Keywords

• antineoplastic
• chemotherapy
• immunomodulation
• gastrointestinal microbiome
• immune checkpoint inhibitors