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Integrating Immunotherapies in Prostate Cancer

  • Genitourinary Cancers (DP Petrylak and JW Kim, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Oncology Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In recent years, immunotherapy has emerged as a viable and promising treatment for prostate cancer. Beyond sipulecuel-T, phase III trials are evaluating multiple vaccine and immune-based therapies in men with this disease. Evidence suggests that many of these therapies are effective at augmenting immune responses and slowing tumor growth rates. Yet prospective data evaluating these responses as surrogates for survival are still needed. In the absence of validated intermediate markers of response, growing data suggests that patients with more indolent disease are more likely to benefit from immunotherapies. In order to further optimize immunotherapy use, ongoing trials are evaluating its combination with traditional as well as other immune-based treatments. Preliminary data from these trials are promising and are shedding new light on this area.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the insightful feedback of James L. Gulley, MD, PhD, during the writing of this article.

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Conflict of Interest

Julius Strauss and Ravi A. Madan declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genitourinary Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bldg 10/ Room 12 N-226, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Julius Strauss

  2. Genitourinary Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bldg 10/ Room 3-4460, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Ravi A. Madan

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Correspondence to Ravi A. Madan.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Genitourinary Cancers

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Strauss, J., Madan, R.A. Integrating Immunotherapies in Prostate Cancer. Curr Oncol Rep 17, 45 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-015-0469-6

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