Immune Checkpoint Inhibition for Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: Limitations and Prospects: a Systematic Review

Overview

Journal Cell Commun Signal

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialties Biochemistry
Cell Biology

Date 2021 Nov 25

PMID 34819086

Citations 29

Authors

Hong-Bo Li

Zi-Han Yang

Qing-Qu Guo

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is an extremely malignant tumor with the lowest 5-year survival rate among all tumors. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), as the most common pathological subtype of pancreatic cancer, usually has poor therapeutic results. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) can relieve failure of the tumor-killing effect of immune effector cells caused by immune checkpoints. Therefore, they have been used as a novel treatment for many solid tumors. However, PDAC is not sensitive to monotherapy with ICIs, which might be related to the inhibitory immune microenvironment of pancreatic cancer. Therefore, the way to improve the microenvironment has raised a heated discussion in recent years. Here, we elaborate on the relationship between different immune cellular components in this environment, list some current preclinical or clinical attempts to enhance the efficacy of ICIs by targeting the inhibitory tumor microenvironment of PDAC or in combination with other therapies. Such information offers a better understanding of the sophisticated tumor-microenvironment interactions, also providing insights on therapeutic guidance of PDAC targeting. Video Abstract.

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