Tailoring precision immunotherapy: Coming to a clinic soon

Abstract

Cell-based and antibody-based cancer immunotherapies have been widely tested across increasing numbers of cancers with an unprecedented number of successful practice-changing immunotherapy clinical trials, achieving significant survival outcomes and, characteristically, some very long-term survivors. Still, a sizeable proportion of patients, especially with solid tumours, do not benefit from immunotherapy. Here, we summarise key literature on immunotherapy biomarkers and resistance mechanisms and discuss potential strategies to overcome such resistance to improve patient outcomes. The ever-expanding understanding of the tumour-immune interaction and the tumour microenvironment allows a real opportunity to identify predictive biomarkers and tailor immune-based therapies, including designing rational combination drugs to enhance clinical outcomes, and to identify patients most likely to benefit from immunotherapy. Where there has never been a precision chemotherapy clinic in the last 70 years since its inception, even with no shortage of trying, the hope and evolution of a functional precision immunotherapy cancer clinic is a much more likely reality.