Immune-Based Therapeutic Strategies for Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Abstract

The development and design of immune-based strategies have become an increasingly important topic during the last few years in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), based on successful immunotherapies in solid cancer. The spectrum ranges from antibody drug conjugates, immune checkpoint inhibitors blocking programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1), cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA4) or T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain containing-3 (TIM3), to T-cell based monoclonal and bispecific T-cell engager antibodies, chimeric antigen receptor-T-cell (CAR-T) approaches and leukemia vaccines. Currently, there are many substances in development and multiple phase I/II studies are ongoing. These trials will help us to deepen our understanding of the pathogenesis of AML and facilitate the best immunotherapeutic strategy in AML. We discuss here the mode of action of immune-based therapies and provide an overview of the available data.

Keywords: T-cell immune checkpoint inhibitors; acute myeloid leukemia; bispecific and dual antigen receptor-targeting antibodies; chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies; immunotherapy.

Figure 1

Illustrated overview of the presented immune-based therapeutic approaches in acute myeloid leukemia. Abbreviations: CAR-T, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell; CD, cluster of differentiation; CLEC12A, C-type lectin domain family 12 member A; CLL-1, C-type lectin-like molecule-1; CTLA-4, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4; PD-1, programmed cell death protein 1; TIM-3, T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin-domain containing-3. Figure 1 was created with BioRender.com (accessed on 14 November 2021).