Threading the Needle: Navigating Novel Immunotherapeutics in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Overview

Journal Cancers (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Oncology

Date 2025 Mar 13

PMID 40075563

Authors

Tarik Demir

Carolyn Moloney

Devalingam Mahalingam

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal malignancy with a poor prognosis. Currently, chemotherapy is the only option for most patients with advanced-stage PDAC. Further, conventional immunotherapies and targeted therapies improve survival outcomes only in rare PDAC patient subgroups. To date, combinatory immunotherapeutic strategies to overcome the immune-hostile PDAC tumor microenvironment (TME) have resulted in limited efficacy in clinical studies. However, efforts are ongoing to develop new treatment strategies for patients with PDAC with the evolving knowledge of the TME, molecular characterization, and immune resistance mechanisms. Further, the growing arsenal of various immunotherapeutic agents, including novel classes of immune checkpoint inhibitors and oncolytic, chimeric antigen receptor T cell, and vaccine therapies, reinforces these efforts. This review will focus on the place of immunotherapy and future possible strategies in PDAC.

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