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Monitoring the immune competence of cancer patients to predict outcome

  • Focussed Research Review
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Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A new era of cancer immunotherapy has brought not only successful cancer vaccines but also immunomodulators, such as those that target checkpoint blockade in order to induce endogenous host immune responses. However, the immune system of cancer patients can be compromised through multiple means, including immune suppression by the tumor and by prior therapies such as chemotherapy and radiation. Therefore, a comprehensive means of assessing patient immunocompetence would seem helpful for determining whether patients are ready to benefit from immunotherapy, and perhaps even which immunotherapy might be most appropriate for them. Unfortunately, there are no standardized tests for immune competence, nor is there agreement on what to measure and what will be predictive of outcome. In this review, we will discuss the technologies and assays that might be most useful for this purpose. We argue for a comprehensive approach that should maximize the chances of developing predictive biomarkers for eventual clinical use.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Immunity, Transplantation, and Infection, Stanford University School of Medicine, Fairchild Science Building, 299 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305-5124, USA

    Serena Chang & Holden T. Maecker

  2. Division of Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Holbrook Kohrt

Authors
  1. Serena Chang
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  2. Holbrook Kohrt
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  3. Holden T. Maecker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Holden T. Maecker.

Additional information

This paper is a Focussed Research Review based on a presentation given at the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Association for Cancer Immunotherapy (CIMT), held in Mainz, Germany, 14–16 May, 2013. It is part of a CII series of Focussed Research Reviews and meeting report.

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Chang, S., Kohrt, H. & Maecker, H.T. Monitoring the immune competence of cancer patients to predict outcome. Cancer Immunol Immunother 63, 713–719 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-014-1521-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-014-1521-3

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