IMI10: cancer immunotherapy

Question 1

what is immunotherapy?

Answer 1

unique approach aimed at defeating cancer
designed to instruct the body’s own immune system to kill off the patient’s own cancer cells in the same way it does with other foreign invaders such as bacteria

Question 2

what cells are immunosuppressive?

Answer 2

regulatory T cells and certain types of myeloid cells

Question 3

what are the characteristics of immunotherapy?

Answer 3

specific
adaptable
durable

Question 4

what’re the different types of cancer immunotherapies?

Answer 4

active and passive

Question 5

what s an active immunotherapy? what are the 2 active immunotherapies?

Answer 5

aims to trigger an anti tumour response from eh immune system of the patient
cytokine therapy
cancer vaccines

Question 6

what s a passive immunotherapy? what are the 2 passive immunotherapies?

Answer 6

requires the use of biological reagents such as mAbs or antigen-specific adaptive immune cells
monoclonal antibody therapy
cell-based therapy

Question 7

what are the different drawbacks and limitations of cytokine therapy?

Answer 7

side effects like flu-like symptoms, depression and fatigue
short half-life
amount of cytokines: expressing sufficient amounts of cytokines int he appropriate target cells

Question 8

what is adjunctive therapy?

Answer 8

additional therapy that is used with the primary therapy with the objective of enhancing the primary therapy

Question 9

what are cancer vaccines?

Answer 9

type of vaccines that are designed to boost your immune system to protect you against tumours such as cervical, prostate and bladder cancers

Question 10

what are the different type of cancer vaccines?

Answer 10

antigen vaccines
DC vaccines
DNA-RNA vaccines
tumour cell vaccines

Question 11

should the vaccine be used before or after a patient develops a tumour?

Answer 11

depends on what we are looking to achieve
if we want to protect a patient before they dev a tumour–> prophylactic vaccine
if we want to help the immune system of the patient after being diagnosed with cancer–>therapeutic vaccine

Question 12

what do prophylactic vaccines do?

Answer 12

provide prior immunity so that the body can build up tumour-specific antibodies or T cells without counteracting illness

Question 13

what are the 2 groups of therapeutic vaccines?

Answer 13

autologous cancer vaccines

allogeneic cancer vaccines

Question 14

what are the drawbacks of cancer vaccines?

Answer 14

hostiles tumour microenvironment
tumour escape
older or sick people can have a weaker immune system?

Question 15

what are the 2 types of cancer prophylactic vaccines?

Answer 15

HPV vaccine

hepatitis B vaccine

Question 16

what are monoclonal antibodies designed for?

Answer 16

designed against antigens presented on the surface of tumour cells

Question 17

what are the different types of monoclonal antibodies?

Answer 17

naked mAbs
conjugated mAbs
bispecific mAbs

Question 18

how do naked mAbs work?

Answer 18

different ways:

• can improve the immune response against cancer cells y attaching to the tumour cells and marking them for the immune system to kill them through antibody-dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) which lead to cell lysis via effector immune cells such as NK cells, eosinophils, macrophages or neutrophils
• can bind to and inhibit proteins on cancer cells or on other nearby cells that are necessary for the cancer cells to grow or spread
• can increase the immune response by targeting immune checkpoints such as anti-PD1/anti-PDL1

Question 19

what are conjugated mAbs?

Answer 19

ab attached to a radioactive particle or to a chemotherapy drug that is used as a shuttle to deliver these substances more specifically to cancer cells?

Question 20

what are the different types of conjugated mAbs?

Answer 20

radio-labelled abs

chemo-labelled abs

Question 21

what are bispecific mAbs designed for?

Answer 21

designed as an antibody that is composed of two different mAbs and can bind 2 different antigens simultaneously which allows them to bring together or cluster the cancer cells and immune cells which facilitates the immune cells to attack the cancer cells

Question 22

what are the drawbacks of mAbs therapy?

Answer 22

allergic reactions
production costs
tissue penetration
mode of action

Question 23

what is cellular based therapy?

Answer 23

relies on immune cells derived straight from the patient which are modified in the lab to enhance the recognition and killing of the patients own tumour cells

Question 24

what are different types of cell-based therapy?

Answer 24

tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) with IL-2

genetically modified cytotoxic T cells

Question 25

what are drawbacks of cell-based therapy?

Answer 25

side effects
manufacturing process
in vivo efficacy
antigen loss
hostile tumour microenvironment