Classification of current anticancer immunotherapies

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Lorenzo Galluzzi, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers; Erika Vacchelli, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers; Jose-Manuel Bravo-San Pedro, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers; Aitziber Buque, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers; Laura Senovilla, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers; Elise Elena Baracco, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers; Norma Bloy, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers; Francesca Castoldi, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers; Jean-Pierre Abastado, INSERM; Madhav Dhodapkar, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2014-12-30
• Publisher: Impact Journals
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2014 Galluzzi et al.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.2998
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Oncotarget
• ISSN: 1949-2553
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 24
• Start Page: 12472
• End Page: 12508
• Keywords: ISOLATED LIMB PERFUSION; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; DEPENDENT CELLULAR CYTOTOXICITY; immunostimulatory cytokines; checkpoint blockers; oncolytic viruses; COLONY-STIMULATING FACTOR; REGULATORY T-CELLS; IMMUNOSTIMULATORY MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES; dendritic cell-based interventions; LENALIDOMIDE PLUS DEXAMETHASONE; NATURAL-KILLER-CELLS; adoptive cell transfer; Oncology; Science & Technology; TOLL-LIKE RECEPTORS; DNA-based vaccines; Cell Biology; Toll-like receptor agonists; HUMAN DENDRITIC CELLS; NECROSIS-FACTOR-ALPHA; peptide-based vaccines
• Research Categories: Biology, Cell; Health Sciences, Immunology; Health Sciences, Oncology

Abstract

During the past decades, anticancer immunotherapy has evolved from a promising therapeutic option to a robust clinical reality. Many immunotherapeutic regimens are now approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency for use in cancer patients, and many others are being investigated as standalone therapeutic interventions or combined with conventional treatments in clinical studies. Immunotherapies may be subdivided into "passive" and "active" based on their ability to engage the host immune system against cancer. Since the anticancer activity of most passive immunotherapeutics (including tumor-targeting monoclonal antibodies) also relies on the host immune system, this classification does not properly reflect the complexity of the drug-host-tumor interaction. Alternatively, anticancer immunotherapeutics can be classified according to their antigen specificity. While some immunotherapies specifically target one (or a few) defined tumor-associated antigen(s), others operate in a relatively non-specific manner and boost natural or therapy-elicited anticancer immune responses of unknown and often broad specificity. Here, we propose a critical, integrated classification of anticancer immunotherapies and discuss the clinical relevance of these approaches.