Abstract
Among the novel biologic therapeutics that will increase our ability to cure human cancer in the years to come, T cell therapy is one of the most promising approaches. However, with the possible exception of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes therapy for melanoma, clinical trials of adoptive T-cell therapy for solid tumors have so far provided only clear proofs-of-principle to build on with further development. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated malignancies offer a unique model to develop T cell-based immune therapies, targeting viral antigens expressed on tumor cells. In the last two decades, EBV-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) have been successfully employed for the prophylaxis and treatment of EBV-related lymphoproliferative disorders in immuno-compromised hosts. More recently, this therapeutic approach has been applied to the setting of EBV-related solid tumors, such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The results are encouraging, although further improvements to the clinical protocols are clearly neces-sary to increase anti-tumor activity. Promising implementations are underway, including harnessing the therapeutic potential of CTLs specific for subdominant EBV latent cycle epitopes, and delineating strategies aimed at targeting immune evasion mechanisms ex-erted by tumor cells.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 341-346 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Journal of Cancer |
Volume | 2 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2011 |
Keywords
- Cytotoxic T lymphocytes
- Epstein-Barr virus
- Nasopharyngeal carcinoma
- T-cell therapy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology