Cancer immunotherapy, which encompasses a variety of approaches that mobilise the immune system to seek out and kill cancer cells, is showing substantial potential to transform the treatment of cancer. Articles in this collection highlight the progress being made with several of the most promising immunotherapy approaches and discuss key issues for maximizing their benefits, such as how immunotherapies may be rationally combined with each other or with traditional anticancer drugs.
All content for this collection has been chosen by the editors of Nature Reviews Drug Discovery and has been made freely available for 6 months, thanks to support of a grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Reviews
Therapeutic approaches to enhance natural killer cell cytotoxicity against cancer: the force awakens
Richard W. Childs & Mattias Carlsten
doi:10.1038/nrd4506
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 14, 487-498 (2015)
The pharmacology of second-generation chimeric antigen receptors
Sjoukje J. C. van der Stegen, Mohamad Hamieh & Michel Sadelain
doi:10.1038/nrd4597
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 14, 499-509 (2015)
Combination cancer immunotherapy and new immunomodulatory targets
Kathleen M. Mahoney, Paul D. Rennert & Gordon J. Freeman
doi:10.1038/nrd4591
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 14, 561-584 (2015)
Big opportunities for small molecules in immuno-oncology
Jerry L. Adams, James Smothers, Roopa Srinivasan & Axel Hoos
doi:10.1038/nrd4596
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 14, 603-622 (2015)
Oncolytic viruses: a new class of immunotherapy drugs
Howard L. Kaufman, Frederick J. Kohlhapp & Andrew Zloza
doi:10.1038/nrd4663
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 14, 642-662 (2015)
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Tumour immunology and immunotherapy
Tumour cells are sensed and destroyed by cells of the immune system, but some tumours can evolve to evade immune-mediated elimination. Scientists are developing new immunotherapies that help the immune system to 'fight back' — watch the Nature Reviews Cancer and Nature Reviews Immunology animation for an overview of tumour immunology and immunotherapy. View animation.
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