Immunotherapy for cancer: Current status and future directions - Best Piles(Bawaseer) Treatment

Immunotherapy for cancer is a type of treatment that uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer cells. It is a relatively new approach to cancer treatment that has shown promising results in a number of different types of cancer.

There are several different types of immunotherapy for cancer, including:

Checkpoint inhibitors: These drugs block certain proteins that cancer cells use to evade the immune system. Examples include PD-1 and CTLA-4 inhibitors.
CAR-T cell therapy: This is a type of gene therapy that involves removing T cells from a patient, genetically modifying them to target cancer cells, and then infusing them back into the patient.
Cancer vaccines: These are designed to help the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells.
Oncolytic viruses: These are viruses that have been engineered to specifically infect and kill cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells unharmed.
Adoptive cell transfer (ACT): This is a treatment that involves removing T cells from a patient, growing them in the lab, and then infusing them back into the patient.

Immunotherapy can be used alone or in combination with other cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery.

While immunotherapy is showing a lot of promise in the treatment of cancer, it is still a relatively new approach and further research is needed to fully understand its potential and limitations. It is also important to note that not all patients respond to immunotherapy and it may not be suitable for all types of cancer.

Immunotherapy for cancer side effects

Common side effects of immunotherapy can include:

Inflammation: Immunotherapy can cause inflammation in various parts of the body, such as the skin, lungs, gut, or liver. This can cause symptoms such as rash, itching, difficulty breathing, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
Autoimmune reactions: Immunotherapy can cause the immune system to attack healthy cells in the body, leading to autoimmune reactions such as colitis, hepatitis, or thyroiditis.
Fatigue: Many patients experience fatigue as a side effect of immunotherapy, which can be severe and persistent.
Neurological side effects: Some immunotherapies can cause side effects such as headache, confusion, memory loss, vision changes, and even seizure.
Cardiotoxicity: Some immunotherapies can cause heart problems, such as inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis), heart failure, or abnormal heart rhythms.
Immune-related adverse events (irAEs): Some immunotherapies can cause irAEs, a group of side effects caused by an overactive immune system. IrAEs can include inflammation of organs such as the lungs, liver, or pancreas, which can lead to symptoms such as shortness of breath, abdominal pain, or jaundice.

It’s important to note that these side effects are not common to all immunotherapies and not all patients will experience them. However, if side effects do occur, they can often be managed with appropriate treatment. Your healthcare provider can provide you with more information about the specific side effects of the immunotherapy you are receiving and the best ways to manage them.

Microenvironment

The microenvironment refers to the specific environment surrounding a cell or group of cells, including the extracellular matrix (ECM), the local blood vessels, and the other cells that make up the surrounding tissue. The microenvironment plays an important role in the growth, survival, and behavior of cells, including cancer cells.

The microenvironment can be classified into three main components:

The physical microenvironment: This includes the ECM and the local blood vessels, which provide structural support and nutrients to the cells.
The chemical microenvironment: This includes the presence of different types of molecules such as growth factors, enzymes, and signaling molecules, which can influence the behavior of cells.
The cellular microenvironment: This includes the presence of other cells such as immune cells, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells, which can affect the behavior of cancer cells.

In cancer, the microenvironment plays an important role in the development and progression of cancer cells. For example, the ECM can provide structural support to the growing tumor, while the presence of certain types of immune cells can inhibit or promote the growth of cancer cells. Some cancer cells can also manipulate the microenvironment to create a more favorable environment for growth and survival.

Targeting the microenvironment is one of the newest and most promising approach in cancer therapy, as it can be used to inhibit the growth and spread of cancer cells, and to enhance the effectiveness of other cancer treatments.

Cancer Epigenetics

Cancer epigenetics is the study of how changes in the regulation of gene expression, rather than changes to the underlying DNA sequence, contribute to the development and progression of cancer. These changes can include modifications to DNA, such as methylation, or changes to the proteins that interact with DNA, such as histones.

Epigenetic changes can lead to the activation of oncogenes (genes that promote cell growth and division) and the silencing of tumor suppressor genes (genes that inhibit cell growth and division) in cancer cells. These changes can also affect the way cancer cells interact with the microenvironment, including the immune system.

There are several different types of epigenetic changes that have been linked to cancer, including:

DNA methylation: This is the addition of a methyl group to the DNA molecule, which can silence gene expression.
Histone modification: This includes changes to the proteins that DNA is wrapped around, which can affect the accessibility of the DNA to the transcription machinery and thus affect gene expression.
MicroRNA: Small non-coding RNAs that can negatively regulate gene expression by binding to target mRNAs and inhibiting their translation or by triggering their degradation.
Long non-coding RNAs : Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are non-coding RNA molecules that are longer than 200 nucleotides. They can be transcribed from both the sense and antisense strands of the genome and have been found to play a role in cancer development and progression by regulating gene expression.

Targeting cancer epigenetics is an active area of research and there are already several drugs in development or in clinical trials that target specific epigenetic changes in cancer cells. Some of these drugs are called “epigenetic therapies” and they aim to either inhibit the activity of enzymes that add methyl groups to DNA or to inhibit the activity of enzymes that remove methyl groups from histones.

It is important to note that cancer epigenetics is a complex field, and many questions remain unanswered, but it is considered as a promising area in cancer therapy and research.

Immunology

“The biology of T cell exhaustion” – Nature Reviews Immunology
“Innate and adaptive immunity in cancer” – Nature Reviews Cancer
“Mechanisms of immune evasion in cancer” – Science

Personalized Medicine

“The future of personalized medicine” – Nature Reviews Genetics
“Precision medicine and the Reinvention of Human Disease” – Cell
“The promise and challenges of implementing precision medicine” – New England Journal of Medicine

The biology of T cell exhaustion

T cell exhaustion is a state in which T cells, a type of immune cell that plays a critical role in fighting cancer and viral infections, lose their ability to function effectively. T cells become exhausted when they are exposed to chronic antigen stimulation, such as in chronic viral infections or cancer, resulting in a loss of effector function, increased PD-1 expression and increased secretion of inhibitory cytokines such as IL-10 and TGF-beta.

The biology of T cell exhaustion is a complex process that involves a number of different molecular and cellular mechanisms, including changes in the expression of cell surface receptors, changes in gene expression, and changes in the microenvironment.

One of the key mechanisms of T cell exhaustion is the increased expression of inhibitory receptors such as PD-1, TIM-3, LAG-3 and TIGIT. These receptors interact with ligands on the surface of other cells, such as cancer cells or stromal cells, to inhibit the activation and function of T cells.

Another mechanism of T cell exhaustion is the loss of function of the transcription factor T-bet and the accumulation of the transcription factor Eomesodermin, which leads to the loss of effector T cell function and increased secretion of inhibitory cytokines.

T cell exhaustion also involves changes in the microenvironment, such as the presence of suppressive cells such as myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDS

Innate and adaptive immunity in cancer

The immune system plays a crucial role in fighting cancer, through both innate and adaptive immunity.

Innate immunity is the non-specific, immediate defense mechanism of the body. It includes physical and chemical barriers, such as the skin and mucous membranes, as well as cells and molecules that can quickly respond to and eliminate pathogens or cancer cells. Examples of innate immune cells include natural killer (NK) cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. These cells have the ability to recognize and respond to a wide range of pathogens and cancer cells, but their response is not specific to a particular pathogen or cancer cell.

Adaptive immunity, on the other hand, is the specific, acquired defense mechanism of the body. It includes cells and molecules that can specifically recognize and respond to a particular pathogen or cancer cell. The main cells of adaptive immunity are T cells and B cells, which can recognize and respond to specific antigens on the surface of pathogens or cancer cells. T cells can be further divided into CD4+ helper T cells and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells. CD4+ helper T cells help to coordinate the immune response and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells directly kill infected or cancerous cells.

In cancer, the innate immune system plays a role in recognizing and eliminating cancer cells, but it is often not sufficient to completely eliminate the cancer. Adaptive immunity, specifically T cells, plays a crucial role in recognizing and eliminating cancer cells. However, cancer cells can evade the immune system by different mechanisms such as expressing inhibitory receptors on their surface, secreting inhibitory cytokines or by creating a suppressive microenvironment.

Targeting the mechanisms of cancer cell evasion, and enhancing the function of both innate and adaptive immune cells, is an active area of research in cancer immunotherapy.