scholarly journals The Immunotherapy Landscape in Adrenocortical Cancer

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2660
Author(s):  
Guillaume J. Pegna ◽  
Nitin Roper ◽  
Rosandra N. Kaplan ◽  
Emily Bergsland ◽  
Katja Kiseljak-Vassiliades ◽  
...  

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare cancer of the adrenal gland that is frequently associated with excess production of adrenal hormones. Although surgical resection may be curative in early-stage disease, few effective therapeutic options exist in the inoperable advanced or metastatic setting. Immunotherapies, inclusive of a broad array of immune-activating and immune-modulating antineoplastic agents, have demonstrated clinical benefit in a wide range of solid and hematologic malignancies. Due to the broad activity across multiple cancer types, there is significant interest in testing these agents in rare tumors, including ACC. Multiple clinical trials evaluating immunotherapies for the treatment of ACC have been conducted, and many more are ongoing or planned. Immunotherapies that have been evaluated in clinical trials for ACC include the immune checkpoint inhibitors pembrolizumab, nivolumab, and avelumab. Other immunotherapies that have been evaluated include the monoclonal antibodies figitumumab and cixutumumab directed against the ACC-expressed insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) receptor, the recombinant cytotoxin interleukin-13-pseudomonas exotoxin A, and autologous tumor lysate dendritic cell vaccine. These agents have shown modest clinical activity, although nonzero in the case of the immune checkpoint inhibitors. Clinical trials are ongoing to evaluate whether this clinical activity may be augmented through combinations with other immune-acting agents or targeted therapies.

2021 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
pp. 76-91
Author(s):  
Elisa Agostinetto ◽  
Daniel Eiger ◽  
Matteo Lambertini ◽  
Marcello Ceppi ◽  
Marco Bruzzone ◽  
...  

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.


Author(s):  
Adam C. Palmer ◽  
Benjamin Izar ◽  
Peter K. Sorger

ABSTRACTHundreds of clinical trials are testing whether combination therapies can increase the anti-tumor activity of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICIs). We find that the benefits of recently reported and approved combinations involving ICIs are fully accounted for by increasing the chance of a single-agent response (drug independence), with no requirement for additive or synergistic efficacy. Thus, the degree of success of combinations involving ICIs with other therapies is largely predictable.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas V. dos Santos ◽  
Carina M. Abrahão ◽  
William N. William

Preclinical data suggest that head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) may evade immune surveillance and induce immunosuppression. One mechanism of immune evasion involves the expression of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) in tumor and immune cells, which is, to date, the only biomarker routinely used in clinical practice to select patients with advanced HNSCCs more likely to benefit from anti-PD-1 therapy. Nonetheless, PD-L1 expression alone incompletely captures the degree of sensitivity of HNSCCs to PD-1 inhibitors. Most patients exposed to anti-PD-1 antibodies do not respond to therapy, suggesting the existence of mechanisms of de novo resistance to immunotherapy. Furthermore, patients that initially respond to PD-1 inhibitors will eventually develop acquired resistance to immunotherapy through mechanisms that have not yet been completely elucidated. In this article, we will provide an overview of the immune landscape of HNSCCs. We will briefly describe the clinical activity of inhibitors of the PD-1/PD-L1 axis in this disease, as well as biomarkers of benefit from these agents that have been identified so far. We will review pre-clinical and clinical work in cancers in general, and in HNSCCs specifically, that have characterized the mechanisms of de novo and acquired resistance to immunotherapy. Lastly, we will provide insights into novel strategies under investigation to overcome resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 995-999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffi Thomas ◽  
Chay Bae ◽  
Tabanor Joy-Ann ◽  
William Traverse

Introduction The landscape for the treatment of metastatic melanoma has been revolutionized with the introduction immune checkpoint inhibitors. Immune checkpoint inhibitors have now become the standard of care for the treatment of cancers. These immune agents including programmed death receptor-1 inhibitors, programmed death-ligand 1 inhibitors and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 inhibitors have shown promising results but have been associated with numerous immune-related complications. Pembrolizumab, a programmed death receptor-1 inhibitor, has been associated with a number of immune-related adverse events affecting multiple organ systems including integument, ocular, endocrine, cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal system. Case report We present a case of an 88-year-old Caucasian male with metastatic melanoma of the face with metastasis to the right fifth cranial nerve and into the right cavernous sinus. He underwent resection of the melanoma and was placed on pembrolizumab at 2 mg/kg every three weeks. Interestingly, 24 months on pembrolizumab therapy, he developed corneal erosions, oral and genital ulcerations. Management and outcome Patient completed his 24 months of pembrolizumab and was started on prednisone and colchicine with improvement in his symptoms. At his follow-up eight months, he had recurrence of an oral ulcer. Discussion Here we present a rare case of an elderly male on pembrolizumab who suffered from corneal erosions, oral and genital ulcers, a syndrome similar to Behcet’s disease. Given that pembrolizumab and other immune checkpoint inhibitors are being utilized in the treatment of cancers, physicians should be aware of the wide range immune-related adverse events including the possible Behcet’s-like syndrome presentation.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elvire Pons-Tostivint ◽  
Aurélien Latouche ◽  
Pauline Vaflard ◽  
Francesco Ricci ◽  
Delphine Loirat ◽  
...  

PURPOSE Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been demonstrated to improve overall survival (OS) in several tumor types. Durable responses have been reported with these agents in patients with melanoma and lung cancer. We aimed to quantify the proportion of patients who experience durable responses on ICIs and to compare it with other drug classes. PATIENTS AND METHODS We retrieved published phase III randomized trials that included at least one ICI arm in the recurrent and/or metastatic setting. A durable response to treatment was defined as a progression-free survival that exceeded three times the median progression-free survival of the whole population. The proportion of patients who experienced an OS that exceeded two times the median OS of the whole patient population also was estimated. RESULTS Nineteen studies involving 11,640 patients treated in 42 treatment arms (26 ICI and 16 non-ICI arms) were included. The mean proportion of patients who experienced a durable response was 2.3 times higher in those treated with an ICI compared with those treated in the control arms (25% v 11%). Durable responses were more frequent in patients treated with anti–PD-1/PD-L1 agents than in patients treated with anti–CTLA-4 agents (28% v 18%). The mean proportion of patients who had an OS that exceeded two times the median OS was also higher in those treated with ICIs than in those treated in the control arms (30% v 23%). In multivariable analysis, the effects of treatment with anti–PD-1/PD-L1 agents and of first-line treatment were statistically associated with a higher mean proportion of durable responses. CONCLUSION Durable responses were more frequent in patients treated with ICIs, although they also occurred in patients treated with other drug classes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (17) ◽  
pp. 6302
Author(s):  
Michela Guardascione ◽  
Giuseppe Toffoli

In advanced-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), systemic treatment represents the standard therapy. Target therapy has marked a new era based on a greater knowledge of molecular disease signaling. Nonetheless, survival outcomes and long-term response remain unsatisfactory, mostly because of the onset of primary or acquired resistance. More recently, results from clinical trials with immune targeting agents, such as the immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), have shown a promising role for these drugs in the treatment of advanced HCC. In the context of an intrinsic tolerogenic liver environment, since HCC-induced immune tolerance, it is supported by multiple immunosuppressive mechanisms and several clinical trials are now underway to evaluate ICI-based combinations, including their associations with antiangiogenic agents or multikinase kinase inhibitors and multiple ICIs combinations. In this review, we will first discuss the basic principles of hepatic immunogenic tolerance and the evasive mechanism of antitumor immunity in HCC; furthermore we will elucidate the consistent biological rationale for immunotherapy in HCC even in the presence of an intrinsic tolerogenic environment. Subsequently, we will critically report and discuss current literature on ICIs in the treatment of advanced HCC, including a focus on the currently explored combinatorial strategies and their rationales. Finally, we will consider both challenges and future directions in this field.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document