ESMO Immuno Oncology Congress 2017: Educational Articles
Current Status and Future Outlook in Cancer Immunotherapy
Educational articles released for the occasion of ESMO Immuno-Oncology Congress 2017, 7-10 December, Geneva, Switzerland.
John Haanen, ESMO Faculty Chair in Tumour Immunology and Immunotherapy presents status of current research and areas of challenges in next five topics
Cancer Immunotherapy Biomarkers
This article covers PD-L1 expression, tumours with high mutational burden—microsatellite instability (MSI)-high or DNA mismatch repair deficient (dMMR), other outcome biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibitors such as T-cell receptor repertoire, tumour microenvironment and the tumour gene expression profile, serum biomarkers, as well as opportunities and challenges for biomarker development.
Immunotherapy Combinations and Sequencing
This article covers PD-1/PD-L1 blockade in combination therapies: anti-PD-1 in combination with anti-LAG3, anti-PD-1 in combination with oncolytic virotherapy, anti-PD-1 in combination with IDO inhibitor (epacadostat), and CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1 blockade in combination with, or sequenced with, BRAF and or MEK inhibition. It also provides a prospect on the next stage for immunotherapy.
Cancer Immunotherapy: Escape of Response
This article deals with the IFN-γ pathway as a key player in immune checkpoint inhibitor resistance, other mechanisms of tumour T-cell exclusion, and research efforts in overcoming resistance to immunotherapy.
Toxicity Associated with Cancer Immunotherapy
This article elaborates immune checkpoints blockade toxicity, in particular systemic adverse events, dermatological toxicity, gastrointestinal immune-related adverse events, immune-related endocrinopathies, immune-related hepatotoxicity, immune-related pneumonitis, and rare immune-related adverse events. It provides also a summary of management of immune-related adverse events.
Moving Immunotherapy to the Adjuvant Setting
Immunotherapy has profoundly changed the treatment of some advanced cancers, mostly for unresectable metastatic disease. This article describes some of the main studies of adjuvant immunotherapy in melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, urothelial cancer, renal cell carcinoma, and provides a general prospect for moving immunotherapies from salvage therapy to earlier disease treatment.