Emerging trends in the immunotherapy of pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S., claiming approximately 43,000 lives every year. Much like other solid tumors, PC evades the host immune surveillance by manipulating immune cells to establish an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Therefore, targeting and reinstating the patient's immune system could serve as a powerful therapeutic tool. Indeed, immunotherapy has emerged in recent years as a potential adjunct treatment for solid tumors including PC. Immunotherapy modulates the host's immune response to tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), eradicates cancer cells by reducing host tolerance to TAAs and provides both short- and long-term protection against the disease. Passive immunotherapies like monoclonal antibodies or engineered T-cell based therapies directly target tumor cells by recognizing TAAs. Active immunotherapies, like cancer vaccines, on the other hand elicit a long-lasting immune response via activation of the patient's immune cells against cancer cells. Several immunotherapy strategies have been tested for anti-tumor responses alone and in combination with standard care in multiple preclinical and clinical studies. In this review, we discuss various immunotherapy strategies used currently and their efficacy in abrogating self-antigen tolerance and immunosuppression, as well as their ability to eradicate PC.

Banerjee K ，Kumar S ，Ross KA ，Gautam S ，Poelaert B ，Nasser MW ，Aithal A ，Bhatia R ，Wannemuehler MJ ，Narasimhan B ，Solheim JC ，Batra SK ，Jain M ... -  《-》

Pancreatic cancer: role of the immune system in cancer progression and vaccine-based immunotherapy.

Amedei A ，Niccolai E ，Prisco D 《-》

Dilemma and Challenge of Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer.

Wu J ，Cai J 《-》

Clinically feasible approaches to potentiating cancer cell-based immunotherapies.

Seledtsov VI ，Goncharov AG ，Seledtsova GV 《-》

Killing the "BAD": Challenges for immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer.

Cancer regression often fails after systemic immune activation, especially for solid tumors due to their local immunosuppressive microenvironments. Among these, the pancreatic cancer microenvironment is unique and an important reason for resistance to anti-cancer treatments that include immunotherapy. In this review, the three main "BAD" characteristics that create and maintain this immunosuppressive microenvironment are discussed for effector T cells: Barriers to overcome, Attraction problems, and their Disabilities. These inhibit both effector T-cell activation and infiltration, reducing immunotherapy effectiveness. Combination approaches for killing the "BAD" aim to normalize the tumor microenvironment and are recommended to enhance anti-cancer immune-system efficacy in pancreatic cancer.

Li TJ ，Wang WQ ，Yu XJ ，Liu L ... -  《-》