scholarly journals Primary and Acquired Resistance to Immunotherapy in Lung Cancer: Unveiling the Mechanisms Underlying of Immune Checkpoint Blockade Therapy

Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 3729
Author(s):  
Laura Boyero ◽  
Amparo Sánchez-Gastaldo ◽  
Miriam Alonso ◽  
José Francisco Noguera-Uclés ◽  
Sonia Molina-Pinelo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Acquired Resistance ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Number Of Patients

After several decades without maintained responses or long-term survival of patients with lung cancer, novel therapies have emerged as a hopeful milestone in this research field. The appearance of immunotherapy, especially immune checkpoint inhibitors, has improved both the overall survival and quality of life of patients, many of whom are diagnosed late when classical treatments are ineffective. Despite these unprecedented results, a high percentage of patients do not respond initially to treatment or relapse after a period of response. This is due to resistance mechanisms, which require understanding in order to prevent them and develop strategies to overcome them and increase the number of patients who can benefit from immunotherapy. This review highlights the current knowledge of the mechanisms and their involvement in resistance to immunotherapy in lung cancer, such as aberrations in tumor neoantigen burden, effector T-cell infiltration in the tumor microenvironment (TME), epigenetic modulation, the transcriptional signature, signaling pathways, T-cell exhaustion, and the microbiome. Further research dissecting intratumor and host heterogeneity is necessary to provide answers regarding the immunotherapy response and develop more effective treatments for lung cancer.

scholarly journals Rethinking immune checkpoint blockade: ‘Beyond the T cell’

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. e001460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuting Liu ◽  
Graham D Hogg ◽  
David G DeNardo
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Antitumor Immunity ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Clinical Success ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Checkpoint Blockade

The clinical success of immune checkpoint inhibitors has highlighted the central role of the immune system in cancer control. Immune checkpoint inhibitors can reinvigorate anti-cancer immunity and are now the standard of care in a number of malignancies. However, research on immune checkpoint blockade has largely been framed with the central dogma that checkpoint therapies intrinsically target the T cell, triggering the tumoricidal potential of the adaptive immune system. Although T cells undoubtedly remain a critical piece of the story, mounting evidence, reviewed herein, indicates that much of the efficacy of checkpoint therapies may be attributable to the innate immune system. Emerging research suggests that T cell-directed checkpoint antibodies such as anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) or programmed death-ligand-1 (PD-L1) can impact innate immunity by both direct and indirect pathways, which may ultimately shape clinical efficacy. However, the mechanisms and impacts of these activities have yet to be fully elucidated, and checkpoint therapies have potentially beneficial and detrimental effects on innate antitumor immunity. Further research into the role of innate subsets during checkpoint blockade may be critical for developing combination therapies to help overcome checkpoint resistance. The potential of checkpoint therapies to amplify innate antitumor immunity represents a promising new field that can be translated into innovative immunotherapies for patients fighting refractory malignancies.

scholarly journals Agonistic CD40 antibody therapy induces tertiary lymphoid structures but impairs the response to immune checkpoint blockade in glioma

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luuk van Hooren ◽  
Alessandra Vaccaro ◽  
Mohanraj Ramachandran ◽  
Konstantinos Vazaios ◽  
Sylwia Libard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
T Cell ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Antibody Therapy ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Cytotoxic T Cell ◽  
Systemic Delivery ◽  
T Cell Infiltration ◽  
Tertiary Lymphoid Structures ◽  
Lymphoid Structures

AbstractGliomas are brain tumors characterized by immunosuppression. Immunostimulatory agonistic CD40 antibodies (αCD40) are in clinical development for solid tumors but are yet to be evaluated for glioma. Here, systemic delivery of αCD40 led to cytotoxic T cell dysfunction and impaired the response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in preclinical glioma models. This was associated with an accumulation of suppressive CD11b+ B cells. However, αCD40 also induced tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS). In human glioma, TLS correlated with increased T cell infiltration indicating enhanced immune responses. Our work unveils the pleiotropic effects of αCD40 therapy in glioma, which is of high clinical relevance.

scholarly journals Cancer Immunotherapy by Blocking Immune Checkpoints on Innate Lymphocytes

Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 3504
Author(s):  
Silvia Pesce ◽  
Sara Trabanelli ◽  
Clara Di Vito ◽  
Marco Greppi ◽  
Valentina Obino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Nk Cell ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Lymphoid Cells ◽  
Immune Checkpoints ◽  
Tissue Damages ◽  
Innate Lymphocytes

Immune checkpoints refer to a plethora of inhibitory pathways of the immune system that play a crucial role in maintaining self-tolerance and in tuning the duration and amplitude of physiological immune responses to minimize collateral tissue damages. The breakdown of this delicate balance leads to pathological conditions, including cancer. Indeed, tumor cells can develop multiple mechanisms to escape from immune system defense, including the activation of immune checkpoint pathways. The development of monoclonal antibodies, targeting inhibitory immune checkpoints, has provided an immense breakthrough in cancer therapy. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), initially developed to reverse functional exhaustion in T cells, recently emerged as important actors in natural killer (NK)-cell-based immunotherapy. Moreover, the discovery that also helper innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) express inhibitory immune checkpoints, suggests that these molecules might be targeted on ILCs, to modulate their functions in the tumor microenvironment. Recently, other strategies to achieve immune checkpoint blockade have been developed, including miRNA exploiting systems. Herein, we provide an overview of the current knowledge on inhibitory immune checkpoints on NK cells and ILCs and we discuss how to target these innate lymphocytes by ICI in both solid tumors and hematological malignancies.

scholarly journals Prognostic Factors and Biomarkers of Responses to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Lung Cancer

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (19) ◽  
pp. 4931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Bianco ◽  
Fabio Perrotta ◽  
Giusi Barra ◽  
Umberto Malapelle ◽  
Danilo Rocco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
T Cell ◽  
Cancer Treatment ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
T Cell Subsets ◽  
Durable Response ◽  
Lung Cancer Treatment ◽  
The Impact

Manipulation of the immune response is a game changer in lung cancer treatment, revolutionizing management. PD1 and CTLA4 are dynamically expressed on different T cell subsets that can either disrupt or sustain tumor growth. Monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) against PD1/PDL1 and CTLA4 have shown that inhibitory signals can be impaired, blocking T cell activation and function. MoAbs, used as both single-agents or in combination with standard therapy for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), have exhibited advantages in terms of overall survival and response rate; nivolumab, pembrolizumab, atezolizumab and more recently, durvalumab, have already been approved for lung cancer treatment and more compounds are in the pipeline. A better understanding of signaling elicited by these antibodies on T cell subsets, as well as identification of biological determinants of sensitivity, resistance and correlates of efficacy, will help to define the mechanisms of antitumor responses. In addition, the relevance of T regulatory cells (Treg) involved in immune responses in cancer is attracting increasing interest. A major challenge for future research is to understand why a durable response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) occurs only in subsets of patients and the mechanisms of resistance after an initial response. This review will explore current understanding and future direction of research on ICI treatment in lung cancer and the impact of tumor immune microenvironment n influencing clinical responses.

scholarly journals Integrating Circulating Biomarkers in the Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Treatment in Lung Cancer

Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 3625
Author(s):  
Boris Duchemann ◽  
Jordi Remon ◽  
Marie Naigeon ◽  
Laura Mezquita ◽  
Roberto Ferrara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Circulating Biomarkers ◽  
Liquid Biopsies ◽  
Technical Requirements ◽  
Mutational Burden ◽  
Tumor Mutational Burden

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are now a cornerstone of treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Tissue-based assays, such as Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-L1) expression or mismatch repair deficiency/microsatellite instability (MMRD/MSI) status, are approved as treatment drivers in various settings, and represent the main field of research in biomarkers for immunotherapy. Nonetheless, responses have been observed in patients with negative PD-L1 or low tumor mutational burden. Some aspects of biomarker use remain poorly understood and sub-optimal, in particular tumoral heterogeneity, time-evolving sampling, and the ability to detect patients who are unlikely to respond. Moreover, tumor biopsies offer little insight into the host’s immune status. Circulating biomarkers offer an alternative non-invasive solution to address these pitfalls. Here, we summarize current knowledge on circulating biomarkers while using liquid biopsies in patients with lung cancer who receive treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, in terms of their potential as being predictive of outcome as well as their role in monitoring ongoing treatment. We address host biomarkers, notably circulating immune cells and soluble systemic immune and inflammatory markers, and also review tumor markers, including blood-based tumor mutational burden, circulating tumor cells, and circulating tumor DNA. Technical requirements are discussed along with the current limitations that are associated with these promising biomarkers.

scholarly journals Circulating Tumor Cell PD-L1 Expression as Biomarker for Therapeutic Efficacy of Immune Checkpoint Inhibition in NSCLC

Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kloten ◽  
Lampignano ◽  
Krahn ◽  
Schlange
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Advanced Nsclc ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Predictive Biomarker ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Tissue Samples ◽  
Programmed Death ◽  
Nsclc Patients

Over the last decade, the immune checkpoint blockade targeting the programmed death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) axis has improved progression-free and overall survival of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. PD-L1 tumor expression, along with tumor mutational burden, is currently being explored as a predictive biomarker for responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). However, lung cancer patients may have insufficient tumor tissue samples and the high bleeding risk often prevents additional biopsies and, as a consequence, immunohistological evaluation of PD-L1 expression. In addition, PD-L1 shows a dynamic expression profile and can be influenced by intratumoral heterogeneity as well as the immune cell infiltrate in the tumor and its microenvironment, influencing the response rate to PD-1/PD-L1 axis ICIs. Therefore, to identify subgroups of patients with advanced NSCLC that will most likely benefit from ICI therapies, molecular characterization of PD-L1 expression in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) might be supportive. In this review, we highlight the use of CTCs as a complementary diagnostic tool for PD-L1 expression analysis in advanced NSCLC patients. In addition, we examine technical issues of PD-L1 measurement in tissue as well as in CTCs.

scholarly journals Transcriptional Regulation of Cancer Immune Checkpoints: Emerging Strategies for Immunotherapy

Vaccines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 735
Author(s):  
Simran Venkatraman ◽  
Jarek Meller ◽  
Suradej Hongeng ◽  
Rutaiwan Tohtong ◽  
Somchai Chutipongtanate
Keyword(s):  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Cancer Genomics ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Acquired Resistance ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Blockade ◽  
Immune Checkpoints ◽  
Master Regulators ◽  
New Class ◽  
Public Datasets ◽  
Molecular Expression

The study of immune evasion has gained a well-deserved eminence in cancer research by successfully developing a new class of therapeutics, immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as pembrolizumab and nivolumab, anti-PD-1 antibodies. By aiming at the immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), these new therapeutics have advanced cancer treatment with notable increases in overall survival and tumor remission. However, recent reports reveal that 40–60% of patients fail to benefit from ICB therapy due to acquired resistance or tumor relapse. This resistance may stem from increased expression of co-inhibitory immune checkpoints or alterations in the tumor microenvironment that promotes immune suppression. Because these mechanisms are poorly elucidated, the transcription factors that regulate immune checkpoints, known as “master regulators”, have garnered interest. These include AP-1, IRF-1, MYC, and STAT3, which are known to regulate PD/PD-L1 and CTLA-4. Identifying these and other potential master regulators as putative therapeutic targets or biomarkers can be facilitated by mining cancer literature, public datasets, and cancer genomics resources. In this review, we describe recent advances in master regulator identification and characterization of the mechanisms underlying immune checkpoints regulation, and discuss how these master regulators of immune checkpoint molecular expression can be targeted as a form of auxiliary therapeutic strategy to complement traditional immunotherapy.

A Career in Lung Cancer: Pushing Beyond Chemotherapy

2019 ◽  
pp. 583-589
Author(s):  
Pradnya Dinkar Patil ◽  
Frances Shepherd ◽  
David H. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
Targeted Therapies ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Acquired Resistance ◽  
Genetic Alterations ◽  
Disease Biology ◽  
Formidable Challenge ◽  
Treatment Paradigm

The landscape of treatments for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has evolved dramatically over the past 3 decades. A better understanding of the disease biology and identification of actionable genetic alterations heralded an era of targeted therapies that has led to unprecedented survival benefits in patients with oncogene-driven NSCLC. More recent breakthroughs in immunotherapy led to the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors that have changed the treatment paradigm for patients with advanced NSCLC because of their ability to produce durable responses, resulting in improved survival outcomes. Despite the unparalleled success of these agents, primary and acquired resistance to these therapies pose a formidable challenge. In this article, we provide an overview of the therapeutic advances in the treatment of NSCLC, mechanisms of resistance, and potential strategies to overcome resistance to targeted therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors.

scholarly journals Biological therapies in nonsmall cell lung cancer

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 1601520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Zugazagoitia ◽  
Sonia Molina-Pinelo ◽  
Fernando Lopez-Rios ◽  
Luis Paz-Ares
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
Cell Lung Cancer ◽  
Immune Checkpoint ◽  
Checkpoint Inhibitors ◽  
Nonsmall Cell Lung Cancer ◽  
Advanced Stage ◽  
Biological Therapies ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Treatment Benefits ◽  
Medical Disciplines

Biological therapies have improved survival outcomes of advanced-stage nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Genotype-directed therapies have changed treatment paradigms of patients withEGFR-mutant andALK/ROS1-rearranged lung adenocarcinomas, and the list of druggable targets with demonstrated clinical actionability (BRAF, MET, RET, NTRK1andHER2) continues to expand. Furthermore, we have incrementally understood the mechanisms of cancer immune evasion and foresee ways to effectively circumvent them, particularly at the immune checkpoint level. Drugs targeting the tumour immune-evasive PD-1 pathway have demonstrated remarkable treatment benefits in this disease, with a non-negligible fraction of patients potentially receiving long-term survival benefits. Herein, we briefly discuss the role of various medical disciplines in the management of advanced-stage NSCLC and review the most relevant biological therapies for this disease, with particular emphasis in genotype-directed therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors.

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