Breathing new life into immunotherapy: review of melanoma, lung and kidney cancer

Abstract

Among the several approaches to cancer immunotherapy, cancer vaccines and monoclonal antibodies that block immune checkpoints are the most advanced clinically Cancer vaccines, in which tumour antigen(s) are co-administered along with an adjuvant, generally do not produce objective tumour shrinkage Monoclonal antibodies blocking immune checkpoints, such as CTLA-4 and PD-1, can mediate measurable tumour shrinkage (objective responses) in several cancer types, including lung cancer, kidney cancer and melanoma Combination immunotherapy, which can involve a cancer vaccine administered with an immune checkpoint blocking antibody or the co-administration of two checkpoint blocking antibodies, might be important for maximizing clinical benefit