Vaccine therapy and immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer

Recent advances in the tumor immunology field of research have enriched our knowledge of how tumor cells initially evade immune surveillance and how existing tumors actively suppress immune recognition of their progression. Based on these advances, strategies for immunotherapy have been developed to enhance antitumor immunity and to target the mechanisms underlying tumor evasion and immune tolerance. These immunotherapy strategies have been employed in the design of novel treatments for pancreatic cancer and are being tested in preclinical studies and human clinical trials. Evidence of immune activation has been demonstrated in a number of these studies and, in some cases, correlated with clinical responses. However, a number of challenges must be addressed before the true potential of immune-based therapies can be determined. Consequently, future studies need to focus on identifying new pancreatic cancer-associated antigens and on identifying and targeting the immune checkpoints that inhibit effective immune cell activation. In addition, the development of these new therapies will require designing clinical trials that efficiently assess combinations of biologics that target multiple immune pathways and incorporate validated predictors of immune response. Finally, demonstrating the success of these new therapies will likely require establishing new criteria to evaluate clinical responses that are associated with immune-mediated mechanisms of tumor control.