Journal Article

Immunotherapy for Ovarian Cancer: Adjuvant, Combination, and Neoadjuvant

Zhang, Yong-Jian, Xia, Bai-Rong, Yang, Chang, Lou, Ge, Zhang, Zhao-Cong, Jin, Wei-Lin

2020

Overview

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy. Surgery and chemotherapy are the primary treatments for ovarian cancer; however, patients often succumb to recurrence with chemotherapeutic resistance within several years after the initial treatment. In the past two decades, immunotherapy has rapidly developed, and has revolutionized the treatment of various types of cancer. Despite the fact that immunotherapy response rates among ovarian cancer patients remain modest, treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)- and TCR-engineered T cells is rapidly developing. Therapeutic efficiency could be improved significantly if immunotherapy is included as an adjuvant therapy, in combination with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and the use of anti-angiogenesis drugs, and poly ADP ribose polymerase inhibitors (PARPi). Newly developed technologies that identify therapeutic targets, predict treatment efficacy, rapidly screen potential immunotherapy drugs, provide neoadjuvant immunotherapy, and utilize nanomedicine technology provide new opportunities for the treatment of ovarian cancer, and have the potential to prolong patient survival. However, important issues that may hinder the efficacy of such approaches, including hyperprogressive disease (HPD), immunotherapy-resistance, and toxicity of the treatments, including neurotoxicity, must be taken into account and addressed for these therapies to be effective.

• Publisher: Frontiers Media SA,Frontiers Media S.A
• Subject: Adipocytes / Angiogenesis / Animals / Antigens / Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - therapeutic use / Ascites / Cancer therapies / Cancer vaccines / Cancer Vaccines - therapeutic use / Cell death / Cell growth / Chemokines / Chemoresistance / Chemotherapy / Chemotherapy, Adjuvant / Chimeric antigen receptors / combination therapy / Cytokines / Disease resistance / Drug development / Female / Fibroblasts / Growth factors / Humans / Immune checkpoint inhibitors / immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) / Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors - therapeutic use / Immunology / Immunosuppressive agents / Immunotherapy / Immunotherapy - adverse effects / Immunotherapy, Adoptive / Ligands / Lymphocytes / Lymphocytes T / Malignancy / Medical prognosis / Metastasis / Nanotechnology / Neoadjuvant Therapy - adverse effects / Neurotoxicity / Oncolytic Virotherapy / Ovarian cancer / Ovarian Neoplasms - immunology / Ovarian Neoplasms - mortality / Ovarian Neoplasms - pathology / Ovarian Neoplasms - therapy / Patients / Proteins / Radiation therapy / T cell receptors / Therapeutic targets / Treatment Outcome / Tumor Microenvironment / Tumors