Epi-drugs in combination with immunotherapy: a new avenue to improve anticancer efficacy

Abstract

Immune checkpoint factors, such as programmed cell death protein-1/2 (PD-1, PD-2) or cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) receptors, are targets for monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) developed for cancer immunotherapy. Indeed, modulating immune inhibitory pathways has been considered an important breakthrough in cancer treatment. Although immune checkpoint blockade therapy used to treat malignant diseases has provided promising results, both solid and haematological malignancies develop mechanisms that enable themselves to evade the host immune system. To overcome some major limitations and ensure safety in patients, recent strategies have shown that combining epigenetic modulators, such as inhibitors of histone deacetylases (HDACi) or DNA methyltransferases (DNMTi), with immunotherapeutics can be useful. Preclinical data generated using mouse models strongly support the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approaches. Indeed, co-treatment with pan- or class I-selective HDACi or DNMTi improved beneficial outcomes in both in vitro and in vivo studies. Based on the evidence of a pivotal role for HDACi and DNMTi in modulating various components belonging to the immune system, recent clinical trials have shown that both HDACi and DNMTi strongly augmented response to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in different tumour types. This review describes the current strategies to increase immunotherapy responses, the effects of HDACi and DNMTi on immune modulation, and the advantages of combinatorial therapy over single-drug treatment.

Keywords: Cancer; DNA methylation; Epigenetics; HDAC inhibitors; Immune checkpoint inhibitors; Immunotherapy.

Fig. 1

Interaction between tumour and immune cells. T cell stimulation is driven by antigens and requires a coordinated participation of several other receptors and molecules expressed on the T cell surface and antigen-presenting cells (APCs) or tumour cells. HDACi and/or DNMTi can inhibit different signalling pathways involved in adaptive immune responses, enhancing antitumour effects by combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors

Fig. 2

Structures of epi-drugs discussed in this review