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Immunotherapy for lung cancer: for whom the bell tolls?

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  • Published:
Tumor Biology

Abstract

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death and accounts for approximately 30 % of all cancer deaths. Despite the recent developments in personalized therapy, the prognosis in lung cancer is still very poor. Immunotherapy is now emerging as a new hope for patients with lung cancer. It is well known that standard chemotherapeutic regimens have devastating effects for the patient’s immune system. Therefore, the aim of immunotherapy is to specifically enhance the immune response against the tumour. Recently, many trials addressed the role of such therapies for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment: ipilimumab, tremelimumab, nivolumab and pembrolizumab are immunotherapeutic agents of high relevance in this field. Anti-tumour vaccines, as well as dendritic cell-based therapies, have emerged as potent inducers of immune response against the tumour. Herein, we will review some of the most promising cancer immunotherapies, highlighting their advantages and try to understand, in an immunological perspective, the missteps associated with the current treatments for cancer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Pedro Madureira

  2. IBMC–Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Pedro Madureira

  3. ICBAS–Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Pedro Madureira

  4. Department of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, ala nascente, edifício 7, 3° andar, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal

    Ramon Andrade de Mello

  5. Research Center, Department of Medical Oncology, Portuguese Oncology Institute, Porto, Portugal

    Ramon Andrade de Mello

  6. Service of Medical Oncology, Núcleo de Terapia Oncológica, Hospital Jorge Valente, Salvador, Brazil

    Alessandro de Vasconcelos

  7. Clinical Research Unit, Instituto de Oncologia da Bahia, Lauro de Freitas, Salvador, Brazil

    Alessandro de Vasconcelos

  8. The Respiratory Department, Ningbo No. 7 Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China

    Yan Zhang

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  1. Pedro Madureira
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  2. Ramon Andrade de Mello
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  3. Alessandro de Vasconcelos
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  4. Yan Zhang
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Correspondence to Ramon Andrade de Mello.

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Madureira, P., de Mello, R.A., de Vasconcelos, A. et al. Immunotherapy for lung cancer: for whom the bell tolls?. Tumor Biol. 36, 1411–1422 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-3285-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-3285-6

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