scholarly journals Do checkpoint inhibitors compromise the cancer patients’ immunity and increase the vulnerability to COVID-19 infection?

Immunotherapy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Kattan ◽  
Clarisse Kattan ◽  
Tarek Assi
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Therapy ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Survival Outcomes ◽  
Toxicity Profile ◽  
Anti Cancer ◽  
Acquired Immunodeficiency ◽  
Improvement In Survival

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) has been declared a pandemic by the WHO that claimed the lives of thousands of people within a few months. Cancer patients represent a vulnerable population due to the acquired immunodeficiency associated with anti-cancer therapy. Immune checkpoint inhibitors have largely impacted the prognosis of a multitude of malignancies with significant improvement in survival outcomes and a different, tolerable toxicity profile. In this paper, we assess the safety of ICI administration in cancer patients during the coronavirus pandemic in order to guide the usage of these highly efficacious agents.

scholarly journals Talkin’ Toxins: From Coley’s to Modern Cancer Immunotherapy

Toxins ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Carlson ◽  
John C. Flickinger ◽  
Adam E. Snook
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Cancer Immunotherapy ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Cell Therapies ◽  
Autologous Cell ◽  
Anti Cancer ◽  
Infected Cells ◽  
Fight Against Cancer

The ability of the immune system to precisely target and eliminate aberrant or infected cells has long been studied in the field of infectious diseases. Attempts to define and exploit these potent immunological processes in the fight against cancer has been a longstanding effort dating back over 100 years to when Dr. William Coley purposefully infected cancer patients with a cocktail of heat-killed bacteria to stimulate anti-cancer immune processes. Although the field of cancer immunotherapy has been dotted with skepticism at times, the success of immune checkpoint inhibitors and recent FDA approvals of autologous cell therapies have pivoted immunotherapy to center stage as one of the most promising strategies to treat cancer. This review aims to summarize historic milestones throughout the field of cancer immunotherapy as well as highlight current and promising immunotherapies in development.

scholarly journals Cancer Management during COVID-19 Pandemic: Is Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors-Based Immunotherapy Harmful or Beneficial?

Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Vivarelli ◽  
Luca Falzone ◽  
Caterina Maria Grillo ◽  
Giuseppa Scandurra ◽  
Francesco Torino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Mechanisms Of Action ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Question Mark ◽  
Cancer Management ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Anti Cancer

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is currently representing a global health threat especially for fragile individuals, such as cancer patients. It was demonstrated that cancer patients have an increased risk of developing a worse symptomatology upon severe acute respiratory syndrome associated coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, often leading to hospitalization and intensive care. The consequences of this pandemic for oncology are really heavy, as the entire healthcare system got reorganized. Both oncologists and cancer patients are experiencing rescheduling of treatments and disruptions of appointments with a concurrent surge of fear and stress. In this review all the up-to-date findings, concerning the association between COVID-19 and cancer, are reported. A remaining very debated question regards the use of an innovative class of anti-cancer molecules, the immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), given their modulating effects on the immune system. For that reason, administration of ICIs to cancer patients represents a question mark during this pandemic, as its correlation with COVID-19-associated risks is still under investigation. Based on the mechanisms of action of ICIs and the current evidence, we suggest that ICIs not only can be safely administered to cancer patients, but they might even be beneficial in COVID-19-positive cancer patients, by exerting an immune-stimulating action.

Baseline tumor size and survival outcomes in lung cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 380-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley M. Hopkins ◽  
Ganessan Kichenadasse ◽  
Ross A. McKinnon ◽  
Andrew Rowland ◽  
Michael J. Sorich
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Tumor Size ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Survival Outcomes ◽  
Lung Cancer Patients

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Basics and Challenges

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (17) ◽  
pp. 3009-3025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Li ◽  
Ho Lam Chan ◽  
Pingping Chen
Keyword(s):  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Complete Response ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Mutation Status ◽  
Anti Cancer ◽  
Cancer Types ◽  
Shed Light

Cancer is one of the most deadly diseases in the modern world. The last decade has witnessed dramatic advances in cancer treatment through immunotherapy. One extremely promising means to achieve anti-cancer immunity is to block the immune checkpoint pathways – mechanisms adopted by cancer cells to disguise themselves as regular components of the human body. Many review articles have described a variety of agents that are currently under extensive clinical evaluation. However, while checkpoint blockade is universally effective against a broad spectrum of cancer types and is mostly unrestricted by the mutation status of certain genes, only a minority of patients achieve a complete response. In this review, we summarize the basic principles of immune checkpoint inhibitors in both antibody and smallmolecule forms and also discuss potential mechanisms of resistance, which may shed light on further investigation to achieve higher clinical efficacy for these inhibitors.

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