The BJC is owned by Cancer Research UK, a charity dedicated to understanding the causes, prevention and treatment of cancer and to making sure that the best new treatments reach patients in the clinic as quickly as possible.
Fig 1. Targets of antibody immune modulators (Page et al, 2014)
background:
Immune modulation in cancer refers to a range of treatments aimed at harnessing a patient’s immune system to achieve tumour control, stabilisation, and potential eradication of disease. A novel therapeutic drug class called immune checkpoint-blocking antibodies modulate T-cell pathways that regulate T cells and have the potential to reinvigorate an antitumour immune response. Ipilimumab was the first FDA-approved immune checkpoint antibody licensed for the treatment of metastatic melanoma (MM) and blocks a checkpoint molecule called cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4).
methods:
Herein we review the preclinical and clinical development of ipilimumab. We outline the mode of action of these agents and other immune checkpoint inhibitors, the management of their toxicities, and how to adequately assess response to treatment.
results:
As a result of these data, a number of other antibodies that block novel checkpoint molecules including programmed death-1 (PD-1), and corresponding ligands such as programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) are under preclinical and clinical development, and have demonstrated activity in multiple tumour types.
conclusions:
This review will summarise the mechanism of action and clinical development of immune checkpoint antibodies, as well as lessons learned in the management and assessment of patients receiving these agents.
Via Krishan Maggon
open access
Minireview
British Journal of Cancer advance online publication 11 September 2014; doi: 10.1038/bjc.2014.348
Immune modulation for cancer therapy
J Naidoo1, D B Page1 and J D Wolchok2,3
1Medical Oncology Fellow, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA2Lloyd J. Old Chair of Clinical Investigation, Service Chief Melanoma and Immunotherapy Service, Associate Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA3Ludwig Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
Correspondence: Dr J Naidoo, E-mail: naidooj@mskcc.org
Received 3 March 2014; Revised 20 May 2014; Accepted 23 May 2014
Advance online publication 11 September 2014