Cancer immunotherapy: from checkpoint inhibitors to CAR-T cell therapy

Cancer immunotherapy has emerged as a promising approach for treating various types of cancer. The idea behind immunotherapy is to use the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. Over the years, there have been several advancements in cancer immunotherapy, from checkpoint inhibitors to CAR-T cell therapy. In this article, we will explore these advancements and how they are changing the landscape of cancer treatment.

Checkpoint inhibitors,

Checkpoint inhibitors are a type of immunotherapy that work by targeting the checkpoints that prevent the immune system from attacking cancer cells. Checkpoints are proteins on the surface of immune cells that regulate their activity. Cancer cells often exploit these checkpoints to evade the immune system. Checkpoint inhibitors block these checkpoints, allowing the immune system to attack cancer cells.

The first checkpoint inhibitor, ipilimumab, was approved by the FDA in 2011 for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. Since then, several other checkpoint inhibitors have been developed, including pembrolizumab and nivolumab, which have shown promising results in the treatment of various types of cancer, including lung cancer, bladder cancer, and kidney cancer.

CAR-T cell therapy,

CAR-T cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy that involves genetically modifying a patient’s own immune cells to attack cancer cells. CAR-T cell therapy involves collecting T cells from the patient’s blood and modifying them in a laboratory to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) on their surface. These CARs allow the T cells to recognize and attack cancer cells.

CAR-T cell therapy has shown remarkable results in the treatment of certain types of cancer, such as leukemia and lymphoma. In 2017, the FDA approved the first CAR-T cell therapy, tisagenlecleucel, for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

Other advancements in cancer immunotherapy,

In addition to checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T cell therapy, there have been other advancements in cancer immunotherapy, including:

• Cancer vaccines: Cancer vaccines work by stimulating the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. There are currently several cancer vaccines in development, including vaccines for lung cancer, breast cancer, and melanoma.
  
• Adoptive cell transfer: Adoptive cell transfer involves collecting immune cells from a patient and modifying them in a laboratory to enhance their ability to attack cancer cells. These modified cells are then infused back into the patient.
  
• Oncolytic viruses: Oncolytic viruses are viruses that are designed to infect and kill cancer cells. These viruses are typically engineered to be safe for normal cells, but deadly to cancer cells.

Cancer immunotherapy has come a long way in the last decade, with advancements in checkpoint inhibitors, CAR-T cell therapy, cancer vaccines, adoptive cell transfer, and oncolytic viruses. These advancements offer new hope for patients with cancer and have the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment. While there are still many challenges to overcome, the future of cancer immunotherapy looks bright.