Trends in cancer最新文献

Does time of day matter for cancer immunotherapy? Whereas the concept of optimizing the time of treatment is well documented for chemotherapy, whether it applies to immunotherapy, a revolutionizing treatment exploiting the power of immune cells to control tumors, has recently been addressed in a study published in Cell.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a hematological malignancy of bone marrow (BM) plasma cells with excessive clonal expansion and is associated with the overproduction of light-chain or monoclonal immunoglobulins (Igs). MM remains incurable, with high rates of relapses and refractory disease after first-line treatment. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been implicated in drug resistance in MM; however, the evidence for CSCs in MM is not adequate, partly due to a lack of uniformity in the definitions of multiple myeloma stem cells (MMSCs). We review advances in understanding MMSCs and their role in drug resistance to MM therapies. We also discuss novel therapeutic strategies to overcome MMSC-mediated relapses and drug resistance.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has emerged as a revolutionary treatment for hematological malignancies, but its adaptation to solid tumors is impeded by multiple challenges, particularly T cell dysfunction and exhaustion. The heterogeneity and inhospitableness of the solid tumor microenvironment (TME) contribute to diminished CAR T cell efficacy exhibited by reduced cytotoxicity, proliferation, cytokine secretion, and the upregulation of inhibitory receptors, similar to the phenotype of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). In this review, we highlight recent advances in T cell therapy for solid tumors, particularly brain cancer. Innovative strategies, including locoregional delivery and 'armoring' CAR T cells with cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-18, are under investigation to improve efficacy and safety. We also highlight emerging issues with toxicity management of CAR T cell adverse events. This review discusses the obstacles associated with CAR T cell therapy in the context of solid tumors and outlines current and future strategies to overcome these challenges.

Therapeutic cancer vaccines have been a subject of research for several decades as potential new weapons to tackle malignancies. Their goal is to induce a long-lasting and efficient antitumour-directed immune response, capable of mediating tumour regression, preventing tumour progression, and eradicating minimal residual disease, while avoiding major adverse effects. Development of new vaccine technologies and antigen prediction methods has led to significant improvements in cancer vaccine efficacy. However, for their successful clinical application, certain obstacles still need to be overcome, especially tumour-mediated immunosuppression and escape mechanisms. In this review, we introduce therapeutic cancer vaccines and subsequently discuss combination approaches of next-generation cancer vaccines and existing immunotherapies, particularly immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and adoptive cell transfer/cell-based immunotherapies.

Over the past 30 years the incorporation of monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatments into the management of hematologic malignancies has led to significant improvements in patient outcomes. The key limitation of mAb treatments is the necessity for target antigen presentation on major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and costimulatory molecules to elicit a cytotoxic immune response. With the advent of bispecific antibodies (BsAbs), these limitations can be overcome through direct stimulation of cytotoxic T cells, thus limiting tumor cell evasion. BsAbs are rapidly being incorporated into treatment regimens for hematologic malignancies, and there are now seven FDA-approved treatments in this class, six of which have been approved in the past year. In this review we describe the function, complications, and clinical trial data available for CD3 BsAbs in the treatment of lymphoma, myeloma, and leukemia.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies, yet much remains to be learned regarding how its precursors develop. In a recent Nature publication, Braxton and Kiemen et al. found that the normal, adult pancreas harbors hundreds to thousands of pancreatic cancer precursors evolving by a variety of routes.

Mental health for cancer survivors in both research and clinical applications has strongly adopted a traditional nosological approach, involving the classification of psychopathology into discrete disorders. However, this approach has recently faced considerable criticism due to issues such as high comorbidity and within-disorder symptom heterogeneity across populations. Moreover, there are additional specific issues impacting the validity of traditional approaches in cancer survivorship populations, including the physiological effects of cancer and its treatments. In response, we provide the case for the hierarchical dimensional approach within psycho-oncology, in particular the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP). We discuss not only the potential utility of HiTOP to research and clinical applications within psycho-oncology, but also its limitations, and what is required to apply this approach within cancer survivorship.

The gut microbiota has emerged as a potential determinant of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) response, yet using it as a biomarker remains challenging. A recent study in Cell by Derosa et al. describes a two-tier model based on gut microbiota composition to discriminate responder from non-responder patients with cancer, offering new ideas that could be leveraged in the clinic.

Despite the success of various cancer therapies on patient survival, these treatments can have negative side effects, particularly severe damage to the respiratory system. Given the rise in respiratory-associated illnesses in response to cancer treatment, we urge the field to consider a new discipline referred to as ‘oncology–respirology’ (or onco-respirology).