Guo S, Contratto M, Miller G, Leichman L, Wu J. Immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer: Unleash its potential through novel combinations. World J Clin Oncol 2017; 8(3): 230-240 [PMID: 28638792 DOI: 10.5306/wjco.v8.i3.230]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Jennifer Wu, MD, Associate Professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York University School of Medicine, 462 First Ave, BCD556, New York, NY 10016, United States. jennifer.wu@nyumc.org
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Oncol. Jun 10, 2017; 8(3): 230-240 Published online Jun 10, 2017. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v8.i3.230
Immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer: Unleash its potential through novel combinations
Songchuan Guo, Merly Contratto, George Miller, Lawrence Leichman, Jennifer Wu
Songchuan Guo, Merly Contratto, George Miller, Lawrence Leichman, Jennifer Wu, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, United States
Author contributions: Wu J provided the concept, the outline, the structure, and the major references for this manuscript, provided critical revisions for this manuscript; Guo S drafted the majority of the manuscript, incorporated several revisions based on feedback from Wu J, Leichman L and Miller G; Contratto M incorporated essential components into the manuscript and performed critical revisions of this manuscript; Miller G and Lawrence L provided critical feedback and offered major ideas to optimize the manuscript; all authors approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest associated with any of the senior author or other coauthors contributed their efforts in this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Jennifer Wu, MD, Associate Professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York University School of Medicine, 462 First Ave, BCD556, New York, NY 10016, United States. jennifer.wu@nyumc.org
Telephone: +1-212-2636530 Fax: +1-212-2638210
Received: January 31, 2017 Peer-review started: February 14, 2017 First decision: March 7, 2017 Revised: March 18, 2017 Accepted: April 18, 2017 Article in press: April 20, 2017 Published online: June 10, 2017 Processing time: 122 Days and 5.1 Hours
Abstract
Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer mortality in both men and women in the United States, with poor response to current standard of care, short progression-free and overall survival. Immunotherapies that target cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4, programmed cell death protein-1, and programmed death-ligand 1 checkpoints have shown remarkable activities in several cancers such as melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, and non-small cell lung cancer due to high numbers of somatic mutations, combined with cytotoxic T-cell responses. However, single checkpoint blockade was ineffective in pancreatic cancer, highlighting the challenges including the poor antigenicity, a dense desmoplastic stroma, and a largely immunosuppressive microenvironment. In this review, we will summarize available clinical results and ongoing efforts of combining immune checkpoint therapies with other treatment modalities such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and targeted therapy. These combination therapies hold promise in unleashing the potential of immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer to achieve better and more durable clinical responses by enhancing cytotoxic T-cell responses.
Core tip: Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer mortality in both men and women in the United States. Pancreatic cancer is one of nonimmunogenic cancers that lacks of optimal treatments especially from immunotherapy prospective. Therefore, combining immune checkpoint therapies with other treatment modalities in pancreatic cancer will be the best strategy to achieve better and more durable clinical responses by enhancing cytotoxic T-cell responses.
