Antitumor Antibodies Can Drive Therapeutic T Cell Responses

The classical view of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) is that their mechanism of action is dominated by signal blocking or the cytotoxicity of Fc-driven innate immune effector functions. We review here a mounting body of evidence that anti-TAA mAbs are capable of profoundly synergizing with T cell-directed immunotherapies such as checkpoint blockade and adoptive cell therapy. Two key components account for this synergy: (i) a self-vaccinal effect mediated by dendritic cells (DCs); and (ii) an inflammatory repolarization of the tumor microenvironment. Efficient exploitation of these mechanisms has tremendous therapeutic potential.