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Cancer

Precision T-cell therapy targets tumours

Nature volume 547, pages 165–167 (2017)Cite this article

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The T cells of the immune system can destroy tumours, but their activation can be inefficient. Vaccines that exploit tumour mutations elicit robust T-cell responses to tumours, with potential clinical benefits. See Letters p.217 & p.222

A goal of treating cancer is the eradication of tumour cells while sparing healthy cells. Conventional therapeutic approaches such as chemotherapy or targeted drug treatments show such selectivity but are often toxic. The immune system can target tumour cells specifically, but immune responses are often suppressed within a tumour or its vicinity1. Although new clinical immunotherapy approaches can help to overcome this immunosuppression by targeting one of the pathways responsible in immune cells (the PD-1-receptor pathway), such treatment can be associated with considerable immunological side effects2. Mouse models3,4 and clinical5 studies have established the feasibility of increasing the immune system's response to tumours by using a vaccination strategy that targets mutant proteins present in tumour cells. In this issue, Ott et al.6 (page 217) and Sahin et al.7 (page 222) report the results of phase I clinical trials that assessed a personalized vaccine-based approach to treat people with skin cancer.

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Figure 1: Manipulating the immune response to tumours.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion, Leiden University Medical Center, 2300 RC Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Cornelis J. M. Melief

  2. ISA Pharmaceuticals, Leiden

    Cornelis J. M. Melief

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  1. Cornelis J. M. Melief
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Correspondence to Cornelis J. M. Melief.

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The author declares competing financial interests. See go.nature.com/2sqtds6 for details.

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Melief, C. Precision T-cell therapy targets tumours. Nature 547, 165–167 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23093

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