Breakthroughs of Cancer Immunotherapy in 2017

Breakthroughs of Cancer Immunotherapy in 2017
Nowadays, cancer immunotherapy has become one of the hottest and most exciting
technologies in biomedicine. Unlike traditional surgery, radiotherapy and
chemotherapy, this new type of therapy exerts its anti-cancer effects by transforming
the body’s immune system into a “weapon” that attacks the tumor.
The reason why immunotherapy has made leaps and bounds is that scientists have
cracked a very important self-protection mechanism of tumor, immune escape.
In human body’s immune system, T cells are important “soldiers” to defend their
health. When T cells recognize cancer cells, they will attack them. However, cunning
cancer cells are not so easily to be recognized. Some cancer cells wear “masks”
themselves and escape the “recognition system” of T cells. PD-L1 protein is one of
the important “masks” of cancer cells. In addition, it also finds an “ally” on the T cells,
the PD-1 protein. Once they combine with each other, T cells will recognize cancer
cells as normal cells and allow them to grow and develop in the body.
Therefore, will cancer cells reveal themselves by attacking PD-1 and PD-L1? The
success of the immunotherapeutic drugs such as PD-1 or PD-L1 antibodies gives a
positive answer to this question. With the help of PD-1 and PD-L1 antibodies, T cells
are able to recognize cancer cells and initiate attacks. Since 2014, the US FDA has
approved five PD-1 / PD-L1 antibodies, namely Opdivo, Keytruda, Tecentriq,
Bavencio and Imfinzi.

In addition to the uniqueness of the anti-cancer mechanism, the number of approved
indications is also one of the reasons why PD-1 / PD-L1 antibodies are known as
“disruptive therapies.” Up to now, the above five drugs have been approved for 11
indications, including melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, renal cell carcinoma,
classic Hodgkin lymphoma, head and neck cancer, bladder cancer (urothelial
carcinoma) , colorectal cancer, gastric carcinoma, liver cancer, Merkel cell carcinoma,
and solid tumors carrying microsatellite instability (MSI-H) or mismatch repair
defects (dMMR).
In addition to the PD-1 / PD-L1 antibody, another immunotherapy called CAR-T also
received significant positive results this year. On August 30, the US FDA formally
approved Novartis’s CAR-T therapy Kymriah for more than a month in advance for
the treatment of relapsed or refractory (r/r) children and young adults with B-cell
acute lymphoblastic leukemia. This is the first CAR-T therapy approved in human
history.

On October 18, Yescarta, a CAR-T therapy developed by Kite Pharma, was also
marketed to treat adult patients with a specific type of large B-cell lymphoma who did
not respond or relapse after receiving at least two other treatment regimens. It is worth
mentioning that Yescarta is the first gene therapy approved for the treatment of
specific types of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and is the second CAR-T therapy
approved worldwide.
Tumor is a cunning disease, which perfectly explains that “villains can always
outsmart”. Immunotherapy represented by PD-1 / PD-L1 antibody and CAR-T has
provided a new “weapon” for people to fight cancer. All these progresses depend on
the accumulation of basic scientific research achievements over the years. Now, a
number of new articles are gradually improving human understanding of cancer,
laying a solid foundation for the development of various anti-cancer therapies.
About Author
Creative Biolabs was founded by scientists who are dedicated to the conquering of
cancer. Over the last 10 years, it has been a leader of recombinant antibody(rAb)
discovery and manufacturing, providing high quality serviced to customers in
academia and industry fields all over the world.