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Immunotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer: current approaches

  • Lung Cancer (C Mascaux, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Respiratory Care Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Lung cancer has long been regarded as a poor candidate for immunotherapy, because it has a relatively low content of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes compared with, for example, melanoma. However, new developments in immunotherapy are about to change this situation. Therapeutic vaccines are different from the well-known prophylactic vaccines, in that they are designed to treat patients already suffering from a disease instead of preventing the disease in healthy individuals. Several therapeutic vaccines are in late-stage clinical development for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). These vaccines use different approaches, including peptides, cell lines or viral vectors, and are used in different settings within the pathology. Some are given as monotherapy, whereas others are combined with traditional therapy for this indication. More recently developed, and very promising, are the checkpoint-blocking antibodies. It is likely that in the future several approaches, including immunotherapy products, will be combined in the evolving standard of care for lung cancer. This review gives a summary of the candidate immunotherapy products currently in late-stage clinical development for NSCLC.

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Compliance with Ethics Guidelines

Conflicts of Interest

Jean-Marc Limacher is a permanent employee of Transgene. Elisabeth Quoix is the Principal Investigator of the trials of Transgene vaccine for lung cancer and have had some advisory activities related to Transgene. There is no monetary transaction regarding the article.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

The paper contains result of clinical studies (those with TG4010) for which Dr. Elisabeth Quoix, M.D. has been an investigator and Dr. Jean-Marc Limacher, M.D. as the medical lead from the industrial side. The studies were performed after approval by the appropriate Institutional Review Boards.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pulmonology, University Hospital, Strasbourg, France

    Elisabeth Quoix

  2. Transgene SA, Medical Affairs, Illkirch, France

    Jean Marc Limacher

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  1. Elisabeth Quoix
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  2. Jean Marc Limacher
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Correspondence to Elisabeth Quoix.

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Quoix, E., Limacher, J.M. Immunotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer: current approaches. Curr Respir Care Rep 3, 19–25 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13665-014-0072-6

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