Going back to class I: MHC and immunotherapies for childhood cancer

Kellie B Haworth1, Jennifer L Leddon, Chun-Yu Chen

  • 1Division of Hematology/Oncology/Blood and Marrow Transplant, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio.

Pediatric Blood & Cancer
|December 20, 2014
PubMed

After decades of unfulfilled promise, immunotherapies for cancer have reached a tipping point, with several FDA approved products now on the market and many more showing promise in both adult and pediatric clinical trials. Tumor cell expression of MHC class I has emerged as a potential determinant of the therapeutic success of many immunotherapy approaches. Here we review current knowledge regarding MHC class I expression in pediatric cancers including a discussion of prognostic significance, the opposing influence of MHC on T-cell versus NK-mediated therapies, and strategies to reverse or circumvent MHC down-regulation.

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