Is there a role for epigenetic enhancement of immunomodulatory approaches to cancer treatment?
File(s)
Author(s)
Flower, KJ
Ghaem-Maghami, S
Brown, R
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The efficacy of cancer immunotherapy relies on the ability of the host immune system to recognise the cancer as non-self and eliminate it from the body. Whilst this is an extremely fertile area of medical research, with positive clinical trials showing durable responses, attention must be paid to the subset of patients that do not respond to these treatments. Immune surveillance and immunoediting by the host could itself select for immune-evasive tumour cells during tumour development leading to immunotherapy resistance. One such mechanism of non-efficacy or resistance is the epigenetic silencing of a specific gene required in the immunotherapy response pathway. Epigenetics is the study of the control of expression patterns in a cell via mechanisms not involving a change in DNA sequence. All tumour types show aberrant epigenetic regulation of genes involved in all the hallmarks of cancer, including immunomodulation. Inhibition of key enzymes involved in maintenance of epigenetic states is another important area of research for new treatment strategies for cancer. Could epigenetic therapies be used to successfully enhance the action of immunomodulatory agents in cancer, and are they acting in the way we imagine? An understanding of the effects of epigenetic therapies on immunological pathways in both the tumour and host cells, especially the tumour microenvironment, will be essential to further develop such combination approaches.
Date Issued
2017-02-05
Date Acceptance
2016-09-30
Citation
Current Cancer Drug Targets, 2017, 17
ISSN
1873-5576
Publisher
Bentham Science Publishers
Journal / Book Title
Current Cancer Drug Targets
Volume
17
Copyright Statement
© 2017 Bentham Science Publishers .
Sponsor
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust- BRC Funding
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust- BRC Funding
Identifier
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28176650
PII: CCDT-EPUB-81520
Grant Number
RDB01 79560
RDB01 79560
Subjects
cancer immunotherapy
epigenetic enhancement
Oncology & Carcinogenesis
0304 Medicinal And Biomolecular Chemistry
1112 Oncology And Carcinogenesis
1115 Pharmacology And Pharmaceutical Sciences
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Netherlands