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Review
. 2016 Apr 25;5(6):e1163462.
doi: 10.1080/2162402X.2016.1163462. eCollection 2016 Jun.

Role of IL-2 in cancer immunotherapy

Tao Jiang  1 , Caicun Zhou  1 , Shengxiang Ren  1
Affiliations
Review

Role of IL-2 in cancer immunotherapy

Tao Jiang et al. Oncoimmunology. .

Abstract

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is one of the key cytokines with pleiotropic effects on immune system. It has been approved for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma and metastatic melanoma. Recent progress has been made in our understanding of IL-2 in regulating lymphocytes that has led to exciting new directions for cancer immunotherapy. While improved IL-2 formulations might be used as monotherapies, their combination with other anticancer immunotherapies, such as adoptive cell transfer regimens, antigen-specific vaccination, and blockade of immune checkpoint inhibitory molecules, for example cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and programmed death 1 (PD-1) mono-antibodies, would held the promise of treating metastatic cancer. Despite the comprehensive studies of IL-2 on immune system have established the application of IL-2 for cancer immunotherapy, a number of poignant obstacles remain for future research. In the present review, we will focus on the key biological features of IL-2, current applications, limitations, and future directions of IL-2 in cancer immunotherapy.

Keywords: Cancer; combined therapy; cytokine; immunotherapy; interleukin-2.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Timeline in understanding the biology and therapeutic application of IL-2.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Signaling pathways of IL-2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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