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Vol.56 No.1 contents | Japanese/English |
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- The 30th Lung Cancer Workshop -
Immunotherapy Targeting the PD-1 Signaling Pathway
Yoshiko Iwai11Department of Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan
In recent years, immunotherapy has emerged as the fourth pillar of cancer treatment, joining surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. The concept of cancer immunotherapy dates back to the late nineteenth century, when William Coley, a young surgeon in New York, began intratumoral injections of bacterial products. It took almost a century to discover dendritic cells and their receptor sensing microorganisms. Immunotherapies can be divided into antigen-specific approaches, which induce tumor-specific T cells, or antigen non-specific approaches, which broadly activate T cells. Activating (accelerator) and inhibitory (brake) receptors on T cells regulate the balance between immune responses and immune tolerance. Although previous immunotherapies have focused on pressing the accelerator on T cells, immune checkpoint inhibitors take the brakes off the immune system and unleash anti-tumor immune responses. The success of clinical trials with novel drugs targeting immune checkpoint molecules such as PD-1 may herald a new era for cancer immunotherapy.
key words: PD-1, CTLA-4, Immune checkpoint inhibitor, Cancer immunotherapy
JJLC 56 (1): 61-65, 2016
