Medicine & Health

Cancer Immunotherapy

Published June 13, 2017 Curated Collections

Cancer immunotherapies harness the body’s immune system to fight cancer. In general, immunotherapies either train the immune system to identify and attack cancer cells (e.g. adoptive cell therapy and cancer vaccines), or thwart the ability of cancer cells to evade the body's natural antitumor immune response (e.g. checkpoint inhibitors). In this Editor’s Picks, Associate Editor Jenna Wilson highlights recent research on potential immunotherapies and the cancer immune environment, including topics featured at this year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

Image Credit: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146885.g001

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Perspectives on Immunotherapy
Checkpoint Inhibitors
Adoptive Cell Transfer
Cancer Vaccines
Combination Therapies
Tumor Immune Microenvironment
Prognostic Biomarkers

Perspectives on Immunotherapy

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10.1371/journal.pmed.1002196

PLOS Medicine Immunotherapy in the Precision Medicine Era: Melanoma and Beyond
December 13, 2016 Mack Y. Su, David E. Fisher
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1003836

PLOS Pathogens From Scourge to Cure: Tumour-Selective Viral Pathogenesis as a New Strategy against Cancer
January 16, 2014 Carolina S. Ilkow, Stephanie L. Swift, John C. Bell, Jean-Simon Diallo
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10.1371/journal.pone.0146885

PLOS Pathogens How to develop viruses into anticancer weapons
March 16, 2017 Roberto Cattaneo, Stephen J. Russell

Checkpoint Inhibitors

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10.1371/journal.pone.0118564

PLOS ONE Phase II DeCOG-Study of Ipilimumab in Pretreated and Treatment-Naïve Patients with Metastatic Uveal Melanoma
March 11, 2015 Lisa Zimmer, Julia Vaubel, Peter Mohr, Axel Hauschild, Jochen Utikal, Jan Simon, Claus Garbe, Rudolf Herbst, Alexander Enk, Eckhart Kämpgen, Elisabeth Livingstone, Leonie Bluhm, Rainer Rompel, Klaus G. Griewank, Michael Fluck, Bastian Schilling, Dirk Schadendorf
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10.1371/journal.pone.0130142

PLOS ONE Differential Activity of Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab and MPDL3280A according to the Tumor Expression of Programmed Death-Ligand-1 (PD-L1): Sensitivity Analysis of Trials in Melanoma, Lung and Genitourinary Cancers
June 18, 2015 Luisa Carbognin, Sara Pilotto, Michele Milella, Vanja Vaccaro, Matteo Brunelli, Anna Caliò, Federica Cuppone, Isabella Sperduti, Diana Giannarelli, Marco Chilosi, Vincenzo Bronte, Aldo Scarpa, Giampaolo Tortora, Emilio Bria
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10.1371/journal.pone.0161779

PLOS ONE Preclinical Development of Ipilimumab and Nivolumab Combination Immunotherapy: Mouse Tumor Models, In Vitro Functional Studies, and Cynomolgus Macaque Toxicology
September 9, 2016 Mark J. Selby, John J. Engelhardt, Robert J. Johnston, Li-Sheng Lu, Minhua Han, Kent Thudium, Dapeng Yao, Michael Quigley, Jose Valle, Changyu Wang, Bing Chen, Pina M. Cardarelli, Diann Blanset, Alan J. Korman
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10.1371/journal.pone.0160221

PLOS ONE Adverse Events Associated with Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Patients with Cancer: A Systematic Review of Case Reports
July 29, 2016 Noha Abdel-Wahab, Mohsin Shah, Maria E. Suarez-Almazor

Adoptive Cell Transfer

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10.1371/journal.pone.0152196

PLOS ONE An Optimized GD2-Targeting Retroviral Cassette for More Potent and Safer Cellular Therapy of Neuroblastoma and Other Cancers
March 31, 2016 Simon Thomas, Karin Straathof, Nourredine Himoudi, Martin Pule, John Anderson
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10.1371/journal.pone.0159690

PLOS ONE Interleukin-7 Modulates Anti-Tumor CD8⁺ T Cell Responses via Its Action on Host Cells
July 22, 2016 Katrin Deiser, Diana Stoycheva, Ute Bank, Thomas Blankenstein, Thomas Schüler
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10.1371/journal.pone.0119483

PLOS ONE Blockade of PD-1/PD-L1 Promotes Adoptive T-Cell Immunotherapy in a Tolerogenic Environment
March 5, 2015 Stephen J. P. Blake, Alan L. H. Ching, Tony J. Kenna, Ryan Galea, Justin Large, Hideo Yagita, Raymond J. Steptoe
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10.1371/journal.pone.0128151

PLOS ONE Sleeping Beauty Transposition of Chimeric Antigen Receptors Targeting Receptor Tyrosine Kinase-Like Orphan Receptor-1 (ROR1) into Diverse Memory T-Cell Populations
June 1, 2015 Drew C. Deniger, Jianqiang Yu, M. Helen Huls, Matthew J. Figliola, Tiejuan Mi, Sourindra N. Maiti, George F. Widhopf 2nd, Lenka V. Hurton, Radhika Thokala, Harjeet Singh, Simon Olivares, Richard E. Champlin, William G. Wierda, Thomas J. Kipps, Laurence J. N. Cooper
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10.1371/journal.pone.0133152

PLOS ONE IGF1R- and ROR1-Specific CAR T Cells as a Potential Therapy for High Risk Sarcomas
July 14, 2015 Xin Huang, Haein Park, Joseph Greene, James Pao, Erin Mulvey, Sophia X. Zhou, Catherine M. Albert, Fred Moy, Deepali Sachdev, Douglas Yee, Christoph Rader, Carl V. Hamby, David M. Loeb, Mitchell S. Cairo, Xianzheng Zhou
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10.1371/journal.pone.0146885

PLOS ONE L1 Cell Adhesion Molecule-Specific Chimeric Antigen Receptor-Redirected Human T Cells Exhibit Specific and Efficient Antitumor Activity against Human Ovarian Cancer in Mice
January 13, 2016 Hao Hong, Christine E. Brown, Julie R. Ostberg, Saul J. Priceman, Wen-Chung Chang, Lihong Weng, Paul Lin, Mark T. Wakabayashi, Michael C. Jensen, Stephen J. Forman

Cancer Vaccines

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10.1371/journal.pone.0155189

PLOS ONE Low Mutation Burden in Ovarian Cancer May Limit the Utility of Neoantigen-Targeted Vaccines
May 18, 2016 Spencer D. Martin, Scott D. Brown, Darin A. Wick, Julie S. Nielsen, David R. Kroeger, Kwame Twumasi-Boateng, Robert A. Holt, Brad H. Nelson
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10.1371/journal.pone.0171539

PLOS ONE Generation of dendritic cell-based vaccine using high hydrostatic pressure for non-small cell lung cancer immunotherapy
February 10, 2017 Nada Hradilova, Lenka Sadilkova, Ondrej Palata, Dagmar Mysikova, Hana Mrazkova, Robert Lischke, Radek Spisek, Irena Adkins
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10.1371/journal.pone.0145920

PLOS ONE MUC1 Vaccines, Comprised of Glycosylated or Non-Glycosylated Peptides or Tumor-Derived MUC1, Can Circumvent Immunoediting to Control Tumor Growth in MUC1 Transgenic Mice
January 20, 2016 Vani Lakshminarayanan, Nitin T. Supekar, Jie Wei, Dustin B. McCurry, Amylou C. Dueck, Heidi E. Kosiorek, Priyanka P. Trivedi, Judy M. Bradley, Cathy S. Madsen, Latha B. Pathangey, Dominique B. Hoelzinger, Margreet A. Wolfert, Geert-Jan Boons, Peter A. Cohen, Sandra J. Gendler

Combination Therapies

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10.1371/journal.pone.0157164

PLOS ONE Optimizing Timing of Immunotherapy Improves Control of Tumors by Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy
June 9, 2016 Kristina H. Young, Jason R. Baird, Talicia Savage, Benjamin Cottam, David Friedman, Shelly Bambina, David J. Messenheimer, Bernard Fox, Pippa Newell, Keith S. Bahjat, Michael J. Gough, Marka R. Crittenden
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10.1371/journal.pone.0167057

PLOS ONE TLR3-Induced Maturation of Murine Dendritic Cells Regulates CTL Responses by Modulating PD-L1 Trafficking
December 2, 2016 Aditi Varthaman, Hélène D. Moreau, Mathieu Maurin, Philippe Benaroch
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10.1371/journal.pone.0131242

PLOS ONE Favorable Alteration of Tumor Microenvironment by Immunomodulatory Cytokines for Efficient T-Cell Therapy in Solid Tumors
June 24, 2015 Siri Tähtinen, Saija Kaikkonen, Maiju Merisalo-Soikkeli, Susanna Grönberg-Vähä-Koskela, Anna Kanerva, Suvi Parviainen, Markus Vähä-Koskela, Akseli Hemminki
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10.1371/journal.pone.0153053

PLOS ONE Immune Checkpoint Blockade to Improve Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes for Adoptive Cell Therapy
April 6, 2016 Krithika N. Kodumudi, Jessica Siegel, Amy M. Weber, Ellen Scott, Amod A. Sarnaik, Shari Pilon-Thomas
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10.1371/journal.pone.0150084

PLOS ONE Poxvirus-Based Active Immunotherapy with PD-1 and LAG-3 Dual Immune Checkpoint Inhibition Overcomes Compensatory Immune Regulation, Yielding Complete Tumor Regression in Mice
February 24, 2016 Susan P. Foy, Barbara Sennino, Tracy dela Cruz, Joseph J. Cote, Evan J. Gordon, Felicia Kemp, Veronica Xavier, Alex Franzusoff, Ryan B. Rountree, Stefanie J. Mandl
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10.1371/journal.pone.0157830

PLOS ONE Combination of NK Cells and Cetuximab to Enhance Anti-Tumor Responses in RAS Mutant Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
June 17, 2016 John Pradeep Veluchamy, Jan Spanholtz, Marleen Tordoir, Victor L. Thijssen, Daniëlle A. M. Heideman, Henk M. W. Verheul, Tanja D. de Gruijl, Hans J. van der Vliet

Tumor Immune Microenvironment

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10.1371/journal.ppat.1005642

PLOS Pathogens PD-1/CTLA-4 Blockade Inhibits Epstein-Barr Virus-Induced Lymphoma Growth in a Cord Blood Humanized-Mouse Model
May 17, 2016 Shi-Dong Ma, Xuequn Xu, Richard Jones, Henri-Jacques Delecluse, Nicholas A. Zumwalde, Akshat Sharma, Jenny E. Gumperz, Shannon C. Kenney
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10.1371/journal.pmed.1002194

PLOS Medicine Patterns of Immune Infiltration in Breast Cancer and Their Clinical Implications: A Gene-Expression-Based Retrospective Study
December 13, 2016 H. Raza Ali, Leon Chlon, Paul D. P. Pharoah, Florian Markowetz, Carlos Caldas
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10.1371/journal.pone.0160004

PLOS ONE Immune-Modulation by Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Inhibitors: Implication on Anti-Tumor Immunity in Lung Cancer
July 28, 2016 Jin S. Im, Amanda C. Herrmann, Chantale Bernatchez, Cara Haymaker, Jeffrey J. Molldrem, Waun Ki Hong, Roman Perez-Soler
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1006030

PLOS Pathogens T Cell Receptor Vβ Staining Identifies the Malignant Clone in Adult T cell Leukemia and Reveals Killing of Leukemia Cells by Autologous CD8⁺ T cells
November 28, 2016 Aileen G. Rowan, Aviva Witkover, Anat Melamed, Yuetsu Tanaka, Lucy B. M. Cook, Paul Fields, Graham P. Taylor, Charles R. M. Bangham
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10.1371/journal.pone.0175563

PLOS ONE Vascular endothelial growth factor A amplification in colorectal cancer is associated with reduced M1 and M2 macrophages and diminished PD-1-expressing lymphocytes
April 12, 2017 Katharina Burmeister, Luca Quagliata, Mariacarla Andreozzi, Serenella Eppenberger-Castori, Matthias S. Matter, Valeria Perrina, Rainer Grobholz, Wolfram Jochum, Daniel Horber, Peter Moosmann, Frank Lehmann, Dieter Köberle, Charlotte K. Y. Ng, Salvatore Piscuoglio, Luigi M. Terracciano, Luigi Tornillo
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10.1371/journal.pone.0162925

PLOS ONE Elevated Cellular PD1/PD-L1 Expression Confers Acquired Resistance to Cisplatin in Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells
September 9, 2016 Fei Yan, Jiuxia Pang, Yong Peng, Julian R. Molina, Ping Yang, Shujun Liu
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10.1371/journal.pone.0166626

PLOS ONE RAS–Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Signal Is Required for Enhanced PD-L1 Expression in Human Lung Cancers
November 15, 2016 Hidetoshi Sumimoto, Atsushi Takano, Koji Teramoto, Yataro Daigo

Prognostic Biomarkers

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10.1371/journal.pone.0136023

PLOS ONE PD-1 and PD-L1 Expression in NSCLC Indicate a Favorable Prognosis in Defined Subgroups
August 27, 2015 Lars Henning Schmidt, Andreas Kümmel, Dennis Görlich, Michael Mohr, Sebastian Bröckling, Jan Henrik Mikesch, Inga Grünewald, Alessandro Marra, Anne M. Schultheis, Eva Wardelmann, Carsten Müller-Tidow, Tilmann Spieker, Christoph Schliemann, Wolfgang E. Berdel, Rainer Wiewrodt, Wolfgang Hartmann
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10.1371/journal.pone.0166266

PLOS ONE PD-L1 Status in Refractory Lymphomas
November 18, 2016 Semir Vranic, Nilanjan Ghosh, Jeffery Kimbrough, Nurija Bilalovic, Ryan Bender, David Arguello, Yvonne Veloso, Aida Dizdarevic, Zoran Gatalica
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10.1371/journal.pone.0138726

PLOS ONE The Relationship of Immune Cell Signatures to Patient Survival Varies within and between Tumor Types
September 23, 2015 Peter S. Linsley, Damien Chaussabel, Cate Speake
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10.1371/journal.pone.0153954

PLOS ONE PD-L1 and Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes as Prognostic Markers in Resected NSCLC
April 22, 2016 Malaka Ameratunga, Khashayar Asadi, Xihui Lin, Marzena Walkiewicz, Carmel Murone, Simon Knight, Paul Mitchell, Paul Boutros, Thomas John

PLOS Welcomes Cancer Immunotherapy Research

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