Immunotherapy: an alternative promising therapeutic approach against cancers

Abstract

The immune system interacts with cancer cells in multiple intricate ways that can shield the host against hyper-proliferation but can also contribute to malignancy. Understanding the protective roles of the immune system in its interaction with cancer cells can help device new and alternate therapeutic strategies. Many immunotherapeutic methodologies, including adaptive cancer therapy, cancer peptide vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and immune checkpoint treatment, have transformed the traditional cancer treatment landscape. However, many questions remain unaddressed. The development of personalized combination therapy and neoantigen-based cancer vaccines would be the avant-garde approach to cancer treatment. Desirable chemotherapy should be durable, safe, and target-specific. Managing both tumor (intrinsic factors) and its microenvironment (extrinsic factors) are critical for successful immunotherapy. This review describes current approaches and their advancement related to monoclonal antibody-related clinical trials, new cytokine therapy, a checkpoint inhibitor, adoptive T cell therapy, cancer vaccine, and oncolytic virus.

Keywords: Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR); Interferon gamma (IFN-ɣ); Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs); Programmed death ligand (PD-L1); Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF).

Fig. 1

IFNs, and TGFIL-2, IL-10, IL-12, IL-15, and IL-21 have been tested in clinical trials for the immunotherapy of cancer

Fig. 2

Schematic diagram showing the linkage of a tumor cell to T cell

Fig. 3

The diagram shows the procedure of chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy (CAR). In this process, autologous T cells are removed from the patient body and the genes that encodes for the specific antigen receptors are introduced into the T cells which is called CAR. The new T cells are then cultured in the lab and then re-introduced into the patients

Fig. 4

Diagram showing that cancer vaccines the procedure by which induce anti-tumor immunity in patients

Fig. 5

Diagram enlisting the essential properties of oncolytic viruses. (1) The virus must selectively replicate in the tumor cells, (2) The virus must be able to replicate efficiently in the tumor microenvironment and (3) The oncolytic virus must function as a therapeutic agent to stimulate the immune system