Highlights
- •Review immune system in ovarian cancer and state of cellular immunotherapy
- •Present cancer stem cells as targets for clinical application of immunotherapy
- •Postulate the use of adjuvant DC vaccination to complement current treatment
Abstract
Ovarian cancer is a devastating disease with a high relapse rate. Due to a mostly
asymptomatic early stage and lack of early diagnostic tools, the disease is usually
diagnosed in a late stage. Surgery and chemotherapy with taxanes and platinum compounds
are very effective in reducing tumor burden. However, relapses occur frequently and
there is a lack of credible second-line options. Therefore, new treatment modalities
are eagerly awaited. The presence and influx of immune cells in the ovarian cancer
tumor microenvironment are correlated with survival. High numbers of infiltrating
T cells correlate with improved progression free and overall survival, while the presence
of regulatory T cells and expression of T cell inhibitory molecules is correlated
with a poor prognosis. These data indicate that immunotherapy, especially cell-based
immunotherapy could be a promising novel addition to the treatment of ovarian cancer.
Here, we review the available data on the immune contexture surrounding ovarian cancer
and discuss novel strategies and targets for immunotherapy in ovarian cancer. In the
end the addition of immunotherapy to existing therapeutic options could lead to a
great improvement in the outcome of ovarian cancer, especially when targeting cancer
stem cells.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 26, 2015
Accepted:
February 18,
2015
Received:
December 9,
2014
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
