Immunotherapy advances for mesothelioma treatment

Emyr Yosef Bakker, Alice Guazzelli, Firozeh Ashtiani, Constantinos Demonacos, Marija Krstic-Demonacos, Luciano Mutti

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

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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 current treatment options such as radiotherapy, surgery and chemotherapy which are then discussed, followed by a description of innate and adaptive immunity and the principles and justification of immunotherapy. 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.
Original languageEnglish
Article numberIERY 1358091
JournalExpert Review of Anticancer Therapy
Early online date20 Jul 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Keywords

  • Mesothelioma
  • Immunotherapy
  • Immune Checkpoint Inhibition
  • Novel Therapies
  • Clinical Trials
  • Clinical Trial Endpoints

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