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Dilemma and Challenge of Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer

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Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is a tumor with a high degree of malignancy, morbidity, and mortality. Immunotherapy is another important treatment for pancreatic cancer in addition to surgery and chemotherapy, but its application in pancreatic cancer is very limited, which is related to the unique biological behavior of pancreatic cancer and the tumor microenvironment. The immunosuppressive microenvironment of pancreatic cancer is highly heterogeneous and presents challenges for immunotherapy. The transformation of tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment contributes to the response to tumor immunotherapy, such that the tumor undergoes functional reprogramming to change from immunologically “cold” to immunologically “hot.” In this review, we summarized the research and progress in immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer, including immune checkpoint inhibitors, vaccines, adoptive T cell therapy, oncolytic viruses, and immunomodulators, and suggest that individualized, combination, and precise therapy should be the main direction of future immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81401919), the grant from the Science Technology Department of Zhejiang Province (2014C03041-1), and the grant from Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LY16H160031).

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  1. Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310009, Zhejiang Province, China

    Jia Wu & Jianting Cai

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  1. Jia Wu
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Wu, J., Cai, J. Dilemma and Challenge of Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer. Dig Dis Sci 66, 359–368 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-020-06183-9

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