Release the Hounds! Activating the T-Cell Response to Cancer
Mené sur 23 patients atteints d'un lymphome hodgkinien réfractaire ou récidivant, cet essai évalue l'activité antitumorale et la toxicité du nivolumab, un anticorps anti PD-1
Among the many subterfuges that cancer cells deploy to limit detection by host immune defenses, activation of so-called immune checkpoints is one that may be exploitable in activating a counterattack. Many complex multicellular regulatory events are involved in keeping the immune system from overreacting to a stimulus or mistaking a component of oneself for a dangerous invader. One such event that regulates inflammatory responses in the tissues involves the programmed death 1 (PD-1) pathway. One or both of the PD-1 ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2, which are expressed on cells in the tissues, bind to PD-1 receptors on T cells and inhibit their function. Blocking this interaction between PD-1 and its ligands can result in T-cell activation and a more florid tissue inflammatory response...
New England Journal of Medicine , éditorial en libre accès, 2013