[Immunotherapies - Overview, mode of action and clinical implications]

Immunotherapies - Overview, mode of action and clinical implications Abstract. The introduction of immunotherapies has led to major advances in the treatment of cancer patients. The mainstays of immunotherapies in clinical routine are immune checkpoint inhibitors. Immune checkpoints like CTLA-4 or the PD-1 / PD-L1 axis are important contributors to the immune homeostasis by preventing overshooting immune responses against pathogens and thus preventing collateral damage to normal tissue, or by preventing autoimmunity. However, immune checkpoints can impede the development of an efficient anti-tumor immune response. Thus, therapeutic monoclonal antibodies against CTLA-4 and PD-1 or PD-L1 displayed remarkable clinical activity such as complete sustained clinical remission even in patients bearing multiple metastases. Malignant melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer or Hodgkin's lymphoma are examples of cancer entities with especially well clinical responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors. This fast-developing field is rapidly expanding the indications for immune checkpoint inhibitors and combinations with other therapeutic strategies like vessel-modulating agents or classical chemotherapy are in preclinical and clinical testing. In this article, the mechanistic principles of immune checkpoint inhibition and their clinical applications are illustrated.