(PM3A) Cancer Immunotherapy

Question 1

What types of immunotherapy drugs are used for treatment of cancer?

Answer 1

(1) Checkpoint inhibitors
(2) Cancer vaccines
(3) T cell immunotherapy

Question 2

What is the most successful treatment of cancer?

Answer 2

Surgery

Question 3

What are two potential approaches for cancer immunotherapy?

Answer 3

(1) Antigen specific approach
– e.g. CAR-T cell therapy

(2) Exploitation of natural immune response
– e.g. checkpoint inhibitors

Question 4

What are tumour associated antigens?

Answer 4

Peptides + antibody targets (antigens) in certain tumour cells

Each tumour is thought to have its own autoantigens

Question 5

What is an adjuvant?

Answer 5

Drives an immune response to an antigen

Used in vaccines

Question 6

What are some potential problems with vaccines as a potential treatment of cancer?

Answer 6

(1) Human adjuvants are not particularly effective
(2) Tumours resist adaptive immune response
(3) May need a different vaccine for each patient

Question 7

What are some clinically effective examples of drugs that inhibit release in cancer immunotherapy?

Answer 7

(1) CTLA-4 blockade

(2) PD-1 inhibitor

Question 8

What are some examples of PD-L1 inhibitors?

Answer 8

• nivolumab
• pembrolizumab
• atezolizumab

Question 9

What is Kymriah?

Answer 9

CAR-T

Antigen-specific approach

Removal of T cells and changing their receptor to a specific antigen