Yang Liu

In recent years, tumor immunotherapy has made significant progress. However, tumor immunotherapy, particularly immune checkpoint inhibitors (e.g., PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors), benefits only a tiny proportion of patients in solid cancers. The tumor microenvironment (TME) acts a significant role in tumor immunotherapy. Studies reported that tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), as one of the main components of TME, seriously affected the therapeutic effect of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. In this review, we analyzed TAMs from epigenetic and single-cell perspectives and introduced the role and mechanisms of TAMs in anti-programmed death protein 1(anti-PD-1) therapy. In addition, we summarized combination regimens that enhance the efficacy of tumor PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors and elaborated on the role of the TAMs in different solid cancers. Eventually, the clinical value of TAMs by influencing the therapeutic effect of tumor PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors was discussed. These above are beneficial to elucidate poor therapeutic effect of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in solid tumors from the point of view of TAMs and explore the strategies to improve its objective remission rate of solid cancers.

As the latest and most anticipated method of tumor immunotherapy, CAR-NK therapy has received increasing attention in recent years, and its safety and high efficiency have irreplaceable advantages over CAR-T. Current research focuses on the application of CAR-NK in hematological tumors, while there are fewer studies on solid tumor. This article reviews the process of constructing CAR-NK, the effects of hypoxia and metabolic factors, NK cell surface receptors, cytokines, and exosomes on the efficacy of CAR-NK in solid tumor, and the role of CAR-NK in various solid tumor. The mechanism of action and the research status of the potential of CAR-NK in the treatment of solid tumor in clinical practice, and put forward the advantages, limitations and future problems of CAR-NK in the treatment of solid tumor.

Abstract Cancer immunotherapy (CIT) has gained increasing attention and made promising progress in recent years, especially immune checkpoint inhibitors such as antibodies blocking programmed cell death 1/programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) and cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4). However, its therapeutic efficacy is only 10–30% in solid tumours and treatment sensitivity needs to be improved. The complex tissue environment in which cancers originate is known as the tumour microenvironment (TME) and the complicated and dynamic TME is correlated with the efficacy of immunotherapy. Ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) is an emerging technology that integrates diagnosis and therapy, which has garnered much traction due to non-invasive, targeted drug delivery and gene transfection characteristics. UTMD has also been studied to remodel TME and improve the efficacy of CIT. In this review, we analyse the effects of UTMD on various components of TME, including CD8 + T cells, tumour-infiltrating myeloid cells, regulatory T cells, natural killer cells and tumour vasculature. Moreover, UTMD enhances the permeability of the blood-brain barrier to facilitate drug delivery, thus improving CIT efficacy in vivo animal experiments. Based on this, we highlight the potential of immunotherapy against various cancer species and the clinical application prospects of UTMD.

No standard first-line treatment exists for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC). In this single-arm, phase II study (NCT00601159), we evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of cisplatin and gemcitabine (GP) as the first-line therapy in mTNBC. Eligible women were those who had measurable disease with no prior chemotherapy for mTNBC. All patients received 21-day-cycle of cisplatin 25 mg/m(2) on days 1-3 and gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8. Treatment was continued until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity or up to 8 cycles. BRCA1/2 mutation status and immunohistochemical basal markers were included in the correlative studies. Sixty-four patients with the median age of 49 years were enrolled. Thirty patients (46.9%) had ≤1 year from diagnosis to recurrence. The median progression free survival (PFS) was 7.2 months (95%CI, 5.6-8.9 months) and overall survival (OS) was 19.1 months (95%CI, 12.4-25.8 months) with median follow-up 42 months. Patients received treatment for a median of six cycles. The overall response rate was 62.5%. The most common grades 3/4 toxicities were neutropenia (42.2%), thrombocytopenia (29.7%), anemia (18.8%) and nausea/vomiting (15.6%).No specific BRCA1/2 mutation carriers were identified. The efficacy of responses and basal-like subtype were independent favorable factors for PFS and OS, respectively. We conclude that the combination of GP has significant activity and a favorable safety profile as the first-line chemotherapy in mTNBC patients, in particular patients with basal-like subtype. The promising role of this combination as the front-line treatment for mTNBC continued to be evaluated in our ongoing phase III trial (CBCSG006).