Download Immunotherapy - Sara M. Engh

Immunotherapy
Sara Engh & Tenzin Yiga
Role of the Immune system
➔ Defends against pathogens such as bacteria,
fungi, and viruses that enter the body
➔ Responds to antigens on the surface of materials
to relay whether they are foreign or not
➔ Cancer cells have antigens that are only slightly
different from normal cells and can be missed
➔ “Cancer cells are less like soldiers of an invading
army and more like traitors within the ranks of
the human cell population” (American Cancer
Society, 2014)
http://www.airheads1.com/o2_for_immune_system.php
What is Immunotherapy
➔ Cancer immunotherapy is a modality that uses a
person’s own immune system to help combat diseases
such as cancer
◆ Uses man-made immune system proteins in the lab
or materials made by the body
➔ AKA: biotherapy
➔ Still not clear how the process actually helps treat
cancer but is thought to either slow/stop tumor
growth or increase the body’s natural ability to find
and eliminate cancerous cells
Types of Immunotherapies
➔Monoclonal antibodies
➔Non-specific immunotherapies
➔Cancer vaccines
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/04/provenge-cancer-vaccine_n_4181851.html
Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs)
➔ Monoclonal antibodies are lab-made and injected
intravenously into the patient (Examples of FDA
approved mAbs: Herceptin, Rituxan, Campath…)
➔ Target specific proteins on the surface of cancer cells
or supporting cells
➔ Outcomes
◆ Assist immune system to destroy cancer cells,
prevent growth, deliver radiation, diagnose
cancers
Non-specific immunotherapies
➔ 2 most common non-specific immunotherapies
Interferons
● Help immune system by potentially slowing down
cancer growth
◆ Interleukins
● Help immune system to produce more cells that
fight off cancer cells
◆
Cancer Vaccines
➔ Vaccines expose the body to the antigen of a certain
disease or pathogen, which then trains the immune
system to recognize the material
➔ Prevention vaccines
◆ pts with no symptoms (proactive)
◆ i.e. HPV vaccine (Gardasil, Cervarix)
➔ Treatment vaccines
◆ helps immune system fight certain cancers by
training it to recognize the cancer cells
◆ i.e. Provenge is the only approved treatment
vaccine in the U.S. (metastatic prostate cancer)
Benefits and Side Effects of Immunotherapy
➔ Fewer harsh side effects compared to chemotherapy and
radiation therapy
◆ Possible side effects of immunotherapy are fever, chills,
weakness, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, low BP, and
rashes (American Cancer Society, 2014)
➔ Does not cause secondary malignancies
➔ Can increase remission period or decrease the chance of
recurrence
◆ Memory cells in the immune system
◆ GP2 vaccine has shown to reduce recurrence rates in breast
cancer patients by 57% (MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2014)
Types of Cancers Immunotherapy is Used for
➔ Prostate Cancer (cell-based immunotherapy)
◆ Provenge, approved by the FDA in 2010
◆ Uses patient’s own WBC, most of which are
dendritic and infuses them with the antigen
prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) and
signaling factor that helps with maturation
◆ extends survival rates by several months
(American Cancer Society, 2014)
➔ Melanoma (cytokine immunotherapy)
◆ 1998, the FDA approved interleukin-2 (IL-2)
to help treat advanced melanoma and
another agent Yervoy became the first
proven immunotherapy agent to help
extend the life of metastatic patients by 12 years in 2011 (Cancer Research Institute,
2014)
http://www.fightcancerwithimmunotherapy.com/Immunoth
erapyAndCancer/StateOfCancerImmunotherapy.aspx
Immunotherapy Research
➔ The FDA has just granted a Breakthrough Therapy Designation to the pharmaceutical
company, Roche, for its promising MPDL3280A (anti-PDL1) immunotherapy used to treat
certain types of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (Drug Discovery & Development,
2015)
➔ Leukemia (Breakthrough Therapy)
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy is pending approval from the FDA,
clinical trials have been very effective. One trial in June of 2011, Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukemia treatment results obtained 100% remissions in children
and 90% in adults (Cancer Research Institute, 2014)
➔ Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors - blocks the immune checkpoint protein which allows the
immune system to recognize the tumor and initiate an immune response
◆ MD Anderson Medical Center developed an antibody, anti-CTLA-4, to block this
protein
◆ Study done on metastatic renal cell carcinoma and has shown to cause tumor
regression (Hale, 2014)
References
Cancer Immunotherapy . (2014, December 8). In American Cancer Society. Retrieved February 16, 2014 from http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/003013-pdf.pdf
Collins, S. (2014, November 4). Immunotherapy Brings New Hope to Cancer Fight. In WebMD. Retrieved February 16, 2015 from
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20141104/immunotherapy-brings-new-hope-cancer-fight
FDA Grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation to Roche's Lung Cancer Immunotherapy. (2015, February). In Drug Discovery & Development. Retrieved February 16, 2015 from
http://www.dddmag.com/news/2015/02/fda-grants-breakthrough-therapy-designation-roches-lung-cancer-immunotherapy
Melanoma. (2014, August). In Cancer Research Institute. Retrieved February 17, 2015 from
http://www.cancerresearch.org/cancer-immunotherapy/impacting-all-cancers/melanoma
Novel Immunotherapy Vaccine Decreases Recurrence in HER2 Positive Breast Cancer Patients. (2014, September 5). In MD Anderson Cancer Center. Retrieved February 17, 2015, from
http://www.mdanderson.org/newsroom/news-releases/2014/vaccine-decreases-reoccurence-her2-breast-cancer.html
Oxygen for the Immune System. (2014). In Airheads. Retrieved February 17, 2015, from http://www.airheads1.com/o2_for_immune_system.php
Platzman Weinstock, C. (2013, November 4). The Latest Weapon in the Fight Against Cancer. In Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/04/provenge-cancervaccine_n_4181851.html
State of Cancer Immunotherapy. (2014, June). Fight Cancer With Immunotherapy. Retrieved Februatry 16, 2015 from
<http://www.fightcancerwithimmunotherapy.com/ImmunotherapyAndCancer/StateOfCancerImmunotherapy.aspx>
What Is Cancer Immunotherapy?. (2014, September 5). In American Cancer Society. Retrieved February 16, 2015 from
http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/treatmenttypes/immunotherapy/immunotherapy-what-is-immunotherapy
What Is Immunotherapy?. (2013, March). In Cancer.Net. Retrieved February 16, 2015 from http://www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/how-cancer-treated/immunotherapy-andvaccines/what-immunotherapy