Immuno-oncology is a field of cancer research that involves the use of the body’s immune system to fight cancer cells.

It seeks to activate, reinforce or restore an individual’s immune response to cancer, which in turn leads to the elimination or suppression of cancer cells.

Immuno-oncology has been a major area of focus in cancer research due to its potential to revolutionize cancer treatment.

Recent advancements in immuno-oncology are helping to unravel the complexities and heterogeneity of tumor-immune interactions, which could lead to novel and highly effective cancer treatments.

Checkpoint Inhibitors: One of the Recent Advances in Immuno-oncology

Checkpoint inhibitors are a class of drugs that have gained widespread interest in the field of immuno-oncology.

These drugs work by blocking the “checkpoint” proteins on immune cells that cancer cells use to turn off the immune system and evade detection. By blocking these proteins, checkpoint inhibitors allow immune cells to attack cancer cells more effectively.

The first checkpoint inhibitor approved for the treatment of cancer was ipilimumab, a drug that blocks the CTLA-4 protein on immune cells.

Since then, several other checkpoint inhibitors have been approved, including: nivolumab, pembrolizumab, atezolizumab, durvalumab, avelumab, and cemiplimab.

Combining Checkpoint Inhibitors with Other Cancer Treatments

Checkpoint inhibitors have shown great promise in clinical trials, but they do not work for everyone. Researchers are investigating ways to make these drugs more effective by combining them with other cancer treatments.

For example, combining checkpoint inhibitors with chemotherapy has shown promising results in certain types of cancer. Chemotherapy can cause cell damage and inflammation, which can attract immune cells to the area.

When combined with checkpoint inhibitors, this can lead to a stronger immune response against the cancer.

Checkpoint inhibitors are also being combined with radiation therapy, which can cause cancer cells to release proteins that attract immune cells.

The hope is that this will enhance the effectiveness of checkpoint inhibitors by increasing the number of immune cells that are attracted to the cancer site.

Personalized Cancer Vaccines

Personalized cancer vaccines are a recent advancement in immuno-oncology that could provide a new approach to treating cancer. These vaccines are designed to target the specific mutations that are unique to an individual’s cancer cells.

Unlike traditional vaccines, which are designed to prevent infections, personalized cancer vaccines aim to stimulate an immune response to cancer.

By targeting the unique mutations that are specific to an individual’s cancer, these vaccines could potentially provide a highly specific and effective treatment for cancer.

Currently, there are several personalized cancer vaccines in clinical trials, including NeoVax, which targets neoantigens (abnormal proteins) on cancer cells.

Adoptive T-cell Therapy

Adoptive T-cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy that involves harvesting T-cells (a type of immune cell) from a patient’s blood and genetically modifying them in the lab to better target cancer cells.

These modified T-cells are then infused back into the patient’s body.

Several types of adoptive T-cell therapy are currently in development, including CAR-T cell therapy, which involves adding a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) to T-cells, allowing them to better target cancer cells.

A recent study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine found that a combination of adoptive T-cell therapy and checkpoint inhibitors showed promising results in the treatment of metastatic melanoma.

The study reported a high response rate and an overall survival rate of over 50% at two years.

Conclusion

Advancements in immuno-oncology are uncovering new insights into the complex interactions between cancer cells and the immune system.

These insights are leading to the development of new and highly effective cancer treatments, such as checkpoint inhibitors, personalized cancer vaccines, and adoptive T-cell therapy.

While immuno-oncology is still a relatively young field, the potential benefits for patients with cancer are enormous.

As research continues to uncover new strategies for activating and enhancing the immune response against cancer, immuno-oncology is poised to become an increasingly important part of cancer treatment.