Role of Modern Immunotherapy in Gastrointestinal Malignancies: A Review of Current Clinical Progress
Abstract
Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers are a group of highly aggressive malignancies with a huge disease burden worldwide. There is clearly a significant unmet need for new drugs and therapies to further improve the treatment outcomes of GI malignancies. Immunotherapy is a novel treatment strategy that is emerging as an effective and promising treatment option against several types of cancers. CTLA-4 and PD-1 are critical immune checkpoint molecules that negatively regulate T cell activation via distinct mechanisms. Immune checkpoint blockade with antibodies directed against these pathways has already shown clinical efficacy that has led to their FDA approval in the treatment of several solid tumors including melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, renal cell carcinoma, urothelial carcinoma, and head and neck cancer. This review will summarize the current clinical progress of modern immunotherapy in the field of GI tumors, with a special focus on immune checkpoint blockade.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-24-2017
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13045-017-0454-7
Repository Citation
Myint, Zin W. and Goel, Gaurav, "Role of Modern Immunotherapy in Gastrointestinal Malignancies: A Review of Current Clinical Progress" (2017). Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications. 85.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/markey_facpub/85
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Journal of Hematology & Oncology, v. 10, 86, p. 1-12.
© The Author(s). 2017
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