Work

Strategies for Optimizing the Clinical Impact of Immunotherapeutic Agents Such as Sipuleucel-T in Prostate Cancer

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: Sipuleucel-T is a therapeutic cancer vaccine that has shown improved survival in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. As a first-in-class agent, it has been met with both fan-fare and controversy. A broad review of immune-based therapies may reveal the delayed clinical impact of sipuleucel-T to be a class effect. As new strategies of immune-based therapy are developed, their effects can be optimized through better understanding of how they affect disease differently from more standard therapeutics. Furthermore, combination therapy with agents that can either work synergistically with immune-activating therapies or deplete immune-regulating cells may result in more vigorous immune responses and improved clinical outcomes. In addition, therapeutic vaccines may be ideal candidates to safely combine with standard-of-care therapies because of their nonoverlapping toxicity profile. The ultimate role of immunotherapy may not be to supplant standard therapies, but rather to work in concert with them to maximize clinical benefit for patients.

Source: Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

DOI: 10.6004/jnccn.2012.0156

Authors: Ravi A. Madan, Thomas Schwaab, James L. Gulley

Institutions: Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute

Language: English

Topic: Prostate Cancer Treatment and Research

Subfield: Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute