Immunotherapy advances for mesothelioma treatment

Bakker, EY; Guazzelli, A; Ashtiani, F; Demonacos, C; Krstic-Demonacos, M; Mutti, L

Abstract

Introduction: Mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer that is strongly tied to asbestos exposure. Despite application of different modalities such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, patient prognosis remains very poor and therapies are ineffective. Much research currently focuses on the application of novel approaches such as immunotherapy towards this disease.

Areas Covered: The types, stages and aetiology of mesothelioma are detailed, followed by a discussion of the current treatment options such as radiotherapy, surgery, and chemotherapy. A description of innate and adaptive immunity and the principles and justification of immunotherapy is also included. Clinical trials for different immunotherapeutic modalities are described, and lastly the article closes with an expert commentary and five-year view, the former of which is summarised below.

Expert Commentary: Current efforts for novel mesothelioma therapies have been limited by attempting to apply treatments from other cancers, an approach which is not based on a solid understanding of mesothelioma biology. In our view, the influence of the hostile, hypoxic microenvironment and the gene and metabolic changes that resultantly occur should be characterised to improve therapies. Lastly, clinical trials should focus on overall survival rather than surrogate endpoints to avoid bias and inaccurate reflections of treatment effects.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 18, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jul 20, 2017
• Publication Date: Jul 20, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jul 25, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 20, 2018
• Journal: Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy
• Print ISSN: 1473-7140
• Electronic ISSN: 1744-8328
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 799-814
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14737140.2017.1358091
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14737140.2017.1358091
• Related Public URLs: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/iery20/current