Transformation of Old Concepts for a New Era of Cancer Immunotherapy: Cytokine Therapy and Cancer Vaccines as Combination Partners of PD1/PD-L1 Inhibitors

Abstract

Purpose of Review: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are only effective in a subset of patients. Here, we will review the rationale and data supporting the combination of PD-1 pathway inhibition with recombinant cytokines and neoantigen-based cancer vaccines that can potentially increase the number of patients who will benefit from immunotherapy. Recent Findings: The safety and tolerability of new interleukin(IL)-2 formulations, IL-15 super agonist, and PEGylated IL-10 have been evaluated in early phase clinical trials with promising efficacy data, both as monotherapy and in combination with ICI. Larger studies focusing on the efficacy of these combinations are ongoing. Personalized neoantigen-based cancer vaccines, enabled by improvements in sequencing computational capabilities, have been proven to be feasible, safe, and able to trigger a consistent vaccine-specific immune response in cancer patients. Summary: New pharmacologically modified recombinant cytokines and personalized neoantigen-based vaccines may turn these approaches into powerful tools for effective combination immunotherapy.