Biomarker-driven immunotherapy for precision medicine in prostate cancer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arianna Ottini ◽  
Pierangela Sepe ◽  
Teresa Beninato ◽  
Mélanie Claps ◽  
Valentina Guadalupi ◽  
...  

Although immunotherapy has recently revolutionized standard of care in different cancer types, prostate cancer has generally failed to show dramatic responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors. As in other tumors, the goal in prostate cancer is now to target treatments more precisely on patient’s individual characteristics through precision medicine. Defects in mismatch repair, mutations in the exonuclease domain of the DNA polymerase epsilon ( POLE), high tumor mutational burden and the presence of biallelic loss of CDK12 among others, are predictive biomarkers of response to immunotherapy. In the present review, we summarize the evolving landscape of immunotherapy in prostate cancer, including precision approaches and strategies to define classes of responsive patients and scale up resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 5517
Author(s):  
Sara Elena Rebuzzi ◽  
Giuseppe Luigi Banna ◽  
Veronica Murianni ◽  
Alessandra Damassi ◽  
Emilio Francesco Giunta ◽  
...  

In recent years, the treatment landscape of urothelial carcinoma has significantly changed due to the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), which are the standard of care for second-line treatment and first-line platinum-ineligible patients with advanced disease. Despite the overall survival improvement, only a minority of patients benefit from this immunotherapy. Therefore, there is an unmet need to identify prognostic and predictive biomarkers or models to select patients who will benefit from ICIs, especially in view of novel therapeutic agents. This review describes the prognostic and predictive role, and clinical readiness, of clinical and tumour factors, including new molecular classes, tumour mutational burden, mutational signatures, circulating tumour DNA, programmed death-ligand 1, inflammatory indices and clinical characteristics for patients with urothelial cancer treated with ICIs. A classification of these factors according to the levels of evidence and grades of recommendation currently indicates both a prognostic and predictive value for ctDNA and a prognostic relevance only for concomitant medications and patients’ characteristics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4712
Author(s):  
Vicenç Ruiz de Porras ◽  
Juan Carlos Pardo ◽  
Lucia Notario ◽  
Olatz Etxaniz ◽  
Albert Font

Since 2010, several treatment options have been available for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), including immunotherapeutic agents, although the clinical benefit of these agents remains inconclusive in unselected mCRPC patients. In recent years, however, immunotherapy has re-emerged as a promising therapeutic option to stimulate antitumor immunity, particularly with the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), such as PD-1/PD-L1 and CTLA-4 inhibitors. There is increasing evidence that ICIs may be especially beneficial in specific subgroups of patients with high PD-L1 tumor expression, high tumor mutational burden, or tumors with high microsatellite instability/mismatch repair deficiency. If we are to improve the efficacy of ICIs, it is crucial to have a better understanding of the mechanisms of resistance to ICIs and to identify predictive biomarkers to determine which patients are most likely to benefit. This review focuses on the current status of ICIs for the treatment of mCRPC (either as monotherapy or in combination with other drugs), mechanisms of resistance, potential predictive biomarkers, and future challenges in the management of mCRPC.


Author(s):  
Alessandra Modena ◽  
Chiara Ciccarese ◽  
Roberto Iacovelli ◽  
Matteo Brunelli ◽  
Rodolfo Montironi ◽  
...  

Despite recent advances in the treatment of metastatic castrationresistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), agents that provide durable disease control and long-term survival are still needed. It is a fact that a tumor-induced immunosuppressive status (mediated by aberrant activation of inhibitory immune checkpoint pathways as a mechanism to evade host immune surveillance) plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of cancer, including prostate cancer (PC), making CRPC patients suitable candidates for immunotherapy. Therefore, growing interest of anticancer research aims at blocking immune checkpoints (mainly targeting CTLA-4 and PD1/PD-L1 pathways) to restore and enhance cellular-mediated antitumor immunity and achieve durable tumor regression. In this review, we describe the current knowledge regarding the role of immune checkpoints in mediating PC progression, focusing on CTLA-4 and PD1 pathways. We also provide current clinical data available, an update on ongoing trials of immune checkpoint inhibitors in PC. Finally, we discuss the necessity to identify prognostic and predictive biomarkers of immune activity, and we analyze new immune checkpoints with a role as promising targets for PC therapy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1412
Author(s):  
Michele Ghidini ◽  
Angelica Petrillo ◽  
Andrea Botticelli ◽  
Dario Trapani ◽  
Alessandro Parisi ◽  
...  

Despite extensive research efforts, advanced gastric cancer still has a dismal prognosis with conventional treatment options. Immune checkpoint inhibitors have revolutionized the treatment landscape for many solid tumors. Amongst gastric cancer subtypes, tumors with microsatellite instability and Epstein Barr Virus positive tumors provide the strongest rationale for responding to immunotherapy. Various predictive biomarkers such as mismatch repair status, programmed death ligand 1 expression, tumor mutational burden, assessment of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes and circulating biomarkers have been evaluated. However, results have been inconsistent due to different methodologies and thresholds used. Clinical implementation therefore remains a challenge. The role of immune checkpoint inhibitors in gastric cancer is emerging with data from monotherapy in the heavily pre-treated population already available and studies in earlier disease settings with different combinatorial approaches in progress. Immune checkpoint inhibitor combinations with chemotherapy (CT), anti-angiogenics, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, anti-Her2 directed therapy, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors or dual checkpoint inhibitor strategies are being explored. Moreover, novel strategies including vaccines and CAR T cell therapy are also being trialed. Here we provide an update on predictive biomarkers for response to immunotherapy with an overview of their strengths and limitations. We discuss clinical trials that have been reported and trials in progress whilst providing an account of future steps needed to improve outcome in this lethal disease.


Author(s):  
Dalibey H ◽  
◽  
Hansen TF ◽  
Zedan AH ◽  
◽  
...  

Background: The development of immunotherapy has shown promising results in several malignant diseases, including prostate cancer, calling for a systematic review of the current literature. This review aims to evaluate the present data and prospects of immune checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer (mCRPC). Methods: Articles were identified via a systematic search of the electronic database Pubmed, in accordance with the PICO process and following the PRISMA guidelines. Articles in English studying immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with mCRPC published between March 2010 and March 2020 were eligible for inclusion. Endpoints of interest were Overall Survival (OS), Progression-Free Survival (PFS), clinical Overall Response Rate (ORR), and Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) response rate. Results: Ten articles were identified as eligible for inclusion. The studies primarily explored the use of Ipilimumab, a CTLA-4 inhibitor, and Pembrolizumab, a PD-1 inhibitor. These drugs were both used either as monotherapy or in combination with other treatment modalities. The largest trial included in the review demonstrated no significant difference in overall survival between the intervention and placebo. However, two studies presented promising data combing immunotherapy and immune vaccines. Grade 3 and 4 adverse events ranging from 10.1% to 82.3%, whit diarrhea, rash, and fatigue were the most frequently reported. Forty relevant ongoing trials were identified exploring immunotherapy with or without a parallel treatment modality. Conclusion: Overall, the current data shows that the effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors as monotherapy may have limited impact on mCRPC, and the results from ongoing combinational trials are eagerly awaited.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 175628481880807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron C. Tan ◽  
David L. Chan ◽  
Wasek Faisal ◽  
Nick Pavlakis

Metastatic gastric cancer is associated with a poor prognosis and novel treatment options are desperately needed. The development of targeted therapies heralded a new era for the management of metastatic gastric cancer, however results from clinical trials of numerous targeted agents have been mixed. The advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors has yielded similar promise and results from early trials are encouraging. This review provides an overview of the systemic treatment options evaluated in metastatic gastric cancer, with a focus on recent evidence from clinical trials for targeted therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors. The failure to identify appropriate predictive biomarkers has hampered the success of many targeted therapies in gastric cancer, and a deeper understanding of specific molecular subtypes and genomic alterations may allow for more precision in the application of novel therapies. Identifying appropriate biomarkers for patient selection is essential for future clinical trials, for the most effective use of novel agents and in combination approaches to account for growing complexity of treatment options.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewan Hunter ◽  
Mehrnoush Dizfouli ◽  
Christina Koutsothanasi ◽  
Adam Wilson ◽  
Francisco Coroado Santos ◽  
...  

Unprecedented advantages in cancer treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) remain limited to a subset of patients. Systemic analyses of the regulatory 3D genome architecture linked to individual epigenetics and immunogenetic controls associated with tumour immune evasion mechanisms and immune checkpoint pathways reveals a highly prevalent patient molecular profiles predictive of response to PD-(L)1 immune checkpoint inhibitors. A clinical blood test based on the set of 8 3D genomic biomarkers has been developed and validated on several independent cancer patient cohorts to predict response to PD-(L)1 immune checkpoint inhibition. The predictive 8 biomarker set is derived from prospective observational clinical trials, representing 229 treatments with Pembrolizumab, Atezolizumab, Durvalumab, in diverse indications: melanoma, non-small cell lung, urethral, hepatocellular, bladder, prostate cancer, head and neck, vulvar, colon, breast, bone, brain, lymphoma, larynx cancer, and cervix cancers. The 3D genomic 8 biomarker panel for response to immune checkpoint therapy achieved high accuracy up to 85%, sensitivity of 93% and specificity of 82%. This study demonstrates that a 3D genomic approach could be used to develop a predictive clinical assay for response to PD-(L)1 checkpoint inhibition in cancer patients.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-124
Author(s):  
Gabriel Surdacki ◽  
Aneta Szudy-Szczyrek ◽  
Aneta Gorący ◽  
Katarzyna Chyl-Surdacka ◽  
Marek Hus

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