Transcriptional Regulation of Cancer Immune Checkpoints: Emerging Strategies for Immunotherapy

       The study of immune evasion has gained a well-deserved eminence in cancer research due to the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as pembrolizumab and nivolumab. However, not all patients benefit from anti-PD-L1 or anti-CTLA4 treatment due to resistance mechanisms supported by the tumor immune microenvironment that promotes immune suppression. Because these mechanisms are poorly elucidated, there is a growing interest in studying the regulation of immune checkpoints through the study of “master regulators”. In this review, we describe recent advances in master regulator identification and characterization of the mechanisms underlying immune checkpoints regulation, and discuss how these master regulators of immune checkpoint molecular expression can be targeted as a form of auxiliary therapeutic strategy to complement traditional immunotherapy.

Reference

Simran Venkatraman S, Meller J, Hongeng S, Tohtong R, Chutipongtanate S. Transcriptional Regulation of Cancer Immune Checkpoints: Emerging Strategies for Immunotherapy. Vaccines. 2020; 8;735; doi:10.3390/vaccines8040735

DOI: 10.3390/vaccines8040735