Raising the bar: the curative potential of human cancer immunotherapy

Abstract

Immunotherapy with interleukin-2 can cure 5 to 10% of patients with metastatic melanoma and renal cancer. Recent adoptive cell transfer (ACT) immunotherapies have improved cure rates in metastatic melanoma to 20 to 40%. Genetic engineering of T cells to express conventional alpha/beta T cell receptors or antibody-based chimeric antigen receptors provides an opportunity to extend ACT to patients with common epithelial cancers.

Figures

Fig. 1.. A schema for personalized immunotherapy using gene-modified cells.

The antigen expression is determined on a tumor biopsy. An appropriate T cell receptor that recognizes that specific antigen is then retrovirally transduced into the patients’ autologous lymphocytes. The lymphocytes are expanded in vitro and infused.