Abstract
The past decade saw great excitement over cancer immunotherapy, reaching a fever pitch, with the discovery being heralded as a “game changer”.1 In 2013 Science magazine dubbed immunotherapy the “breakthrough of the year”,2 and in 2018 the Nobel prize in physiology and medicine was awarded for contributions to the field.3 Throughout the 2010s unprecedented clinical results were seen with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy,4–6 and the first FDA approvals were obtained for CAR T-cell products,7 oncolytic viruses,8 and checkpoint blockade.9 Despite rapid advances, cancer immunotherapy progress has not been without its hurdles. New toxicities and high costs continue to challenge the field, alongside uncertainties regarding the durability of responses and widespread applicability of these therapies across different tumour types.10,11 Now, at the close of the decade we provide herein a brief overview of the history and current state of immunotherapy, reflecting on whether this treatment modality has truly “changed the game”.
Highlights
University of Western Ontario Medical Journal ABSTRACTThe past decade saw great excitement over cancer immunotherapy, with the discovery being heralded as a “game changer”.1 In 2013, Science magazine dubbed immunotherapy the “breakthrough of the year”,2 and in 2018, the Nobel prize in physiology and medicine was awarded for contributions to the field.[3]
The notion that the immune system can fight cancer proved to be one of the most contentious ideas within the field of oncology throughout the 20th century.[12,13] William Coley is often credited as the “father of immunotherapy” for his breakthrough studies showing that induction of an immune response by administration of killed bacterial toxins could, in select cases, promote tumour regression.[14]
A search of PubMed using the key term “cancer immunotherapy” reveals 9,189 articles published in 2019, the highest of any year. 1,977 clinical trials targeting PD-1/PD-L1 and 570 CAR T-cell trials were registered on ClinicalTrials.gov in 2019.10While significant hurdles remain, these therapies have been lifechanging and lifesaving for many patients.[82]
Summary
The past decade saw great excitement over cancer immunotherapy, with the discovery being heralded as a “game changer”.1 In 2013, Science magazine dubbed immunotherapy the “breakthrough of the year”,2 and in 2018, the Nobel prize in physiology and medicine was awarded for contributions to the field.[3]. The past decade saw great excitement over cancer immunotherapy, with the discovery being heralded as a “game changer”.1. New toxicities and high costs continue to challenge the field, alongside uncertainties regarding the durability of responses and widespread applicability of these therapies across different tumour types.[10,11] at the close of the decade, we provide a brief overview of the history and current state of immunotherapy; we summarize the major successes, the promising research and therapeutic pathways, and the barriers currently faced by the field, reflecting on how this treatment has truly “changed the game”
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