Highlights into historical and current immune interventions for cancer

Area of Science:

• Oncology and Immunology
• Cancer Therapeutics
• Tumor Immunology

Background:

• Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment, complementing traditional therapies like chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
• While modern immunotherapies such as adoptive cellular therapy (ACT) and checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs) offer durable responses, their efficacy is limited to specific patient subsets.
• Understanding the historical evolution and diverse mechanisms of immunotherapies is crucial for advancing cancer care.

Approach:

• This review provides historical context for cancer immunotherapy, from ancient observations to modern breakthroughs.
• It examines various immune interventions, including vaccines, ACT, and CPIs, highlighting their mechanisms and clinical impact.
• The review discusses personalized approaches to overcome current limitations and enhance immunotherapy effectiveness.

Key Points:

• Immunotherapy's history spans over 3000 years, with significant milestones including the use of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) for bladder cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines for cancer prevention.
• While CAR T-cell therapies and CPIs represent recent advancements, they face challenges such as toxicity, cost, and limited efficacy in certain tumors.
• Vaccines like HPV vaccines demonstrate broad impact, high efficacy in preventing infection-driven cancers, and fewer limitations compared to some advanced therapies.

Conclusions:

• Immunotherapies, encompassing both historical and novel approaches, have a broad and durable impact on cancer therapy and prevention worldwide.
• Combining different immunotherapeutic mechanisms and integrating them with standard care modalities holds immense potential for improving patient outcomes.
• Personalization of immune interventions is key to addressing current limitations and maximizing the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy.