0000000000447766
AUTHOR
Thaiz Rivera Vargas
Rationale for stimulator of interferon genes-targeted cancer immunotherapy
International audience; The efficacy of checkpoint inhibitor therapy illustrates that cancer immunotherapy, which aims to foster the host immune response against cancer to achieve durable anticancer responses, can be successfully implemented in a routine clinical practice. However, a substantial proportion of patients does not benefit from this treatment, underscoring the need to identify alternative strategies to defeat cancer. Despite the demonstration in the 1990's that the detection of danger signals, including the nucleic acids DNA and RNA, by dendritic cells (DCs) in a cancer setting is essential for eliciting host defence, the molecular sensors responsible for recognising these dange…
Immunotherapeutic properties of chemotherapy
IF 5.363; International audience; Impressive remissions driven by immunological checkpoint blockade in cancer patients have prompted the scientific community to investigate afresh the crosstalk between cancer cells and the patient's immune system. Preclinical and clinical studies have highlighted that the anticancer efficacy of some conventional chemotherapeutics is based on their ability to restore anticancer immune responses. The current challenge is to understand and circumvent immune resistance mechanisms to chemo- and immunotherapies to design relevant immunotherapy and chemotherapy combinations. In this review, we will summarize which immunological processes are involved in the antica…
Danger signals: Chemotherapy enhancers?
IF 9.614; International audience; Endogenous danger signals are molecules normally present in a given cell compartment that are rapidly released following cell stress and induce immune responses. We and others have shown that dying tumor cells treated with some chemotherapies are able to induce anticancer immune responses, which rely on their release of danger signals such as the nuclear protein HMGB1. DNA can also be released from chemotherapy-treated tumor cells, act as a danger signal, and boost anticancer immunity. While the immunostimulatory properties of DNA have been identified for decades, the recent discovery of a novel family of receptors, cytosolic DNA sensors, has provided a nov…
Can Immunogenic Chemotherapies Relieve Cancer Cell Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors?
The unprecedented clinical activity of checkpoint blockade in several types of cancers has formally demonstrated that anti-tumor immune responses are crucial in cancer therapy. Durable responses seen in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) show that they can trigger the establishment of long-lasting immunologic memory. This beneficial outcome is however achieved for a limited number of patients. In addition, late relapses are emerging suggesting the development of acquired resistances that compromise the anticancer efficacy of ICI. How can this be prevented through combination therapies? We here review the functions of immune checkpoints, the successes of ICI in treating…