This book addresses the biological processes relevant to the immune phenotypes of cancer and their significance for immune responsiveness, based on the premise that malignant cells manipulate their surroundings through an evolutionary process that is controlled by interactions with innate immune sensors as well as the adaptive recognition of self/non-self. Checkpoint inhibitor therapy is now an accepted new form of cancer treatment. Other immuno-oncology approaches, such as adoptive cell therapy and metabolic inhibitors, have also shown promising results for specific indications. Immune resistance is common, however, limiting the efficacy of immunotherapy in many common cancer types. The reasons for such resistance are diverse and peculiar to the immune landscapes of individual cancers, and to the treatment modality used. Accordingly, approaches to circumvent resistance need to take into account context-specific genetic, biological and environmental factors that may affect the cancer immune cycle, and which can best be understood by studying the target tissue and correlated systemic immune markers. Understanding the major requirements for the evolutionary process governing human cancer growth in the immune-competent host will guide effective therapeutic choices that are tailored to the biology of individual cancers.

NK Cells in Cancer Immunotherapy: Successes and Challenges explains the latest immunotherapeutic strategies, focusing on NK cells to allow the best and precise combination treatments to cancer patients. The book provides existing background knowledge in the field of immunotherapy and discusses future areas of research required to carry out cutting-edge, validated therapies. Chapters cover advances in immunotherapeutic strategies, in particular, the use of NK cells with and without T-cell therapy in the treatment of cancer. The book is a valuable resource for cancer researchers, oncologists, graduate students and those interested in learning more about novel strategies to treat cancer patients. Immunotherapy is fast becoming the method of choice for cancer therapy. Although remarkable advances have been made in the field of immunotherapy, there are significant challenges and difficulties ahead since many of the current immunotherapeutic strategies do not provide long-lasting treatment strategies, and therefore are not very effective. - Covers CAR/T and CAR/NK and adoptive NK cell therapy with and without T cell therapies - Discusses basic biology of NK cells and mouse models of human cancers and the role of NK cells in metastatic cancer and in cancer stem cells - Encompasses information on combination therapies using check point inhibition, adoptive transfer of cytotoxic effector cells, chemotherapeutic drugs and activating and inhibitory antibodies

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies for leukemia (e.g. tisagenlecleucel) and lymphoma (e.g. axicabtagene ciloleucel) have recently received regulatory approval in the United States. Phase I/II trials have demonstrated complete remission of refractory or relapsed tumors in 50% - 94% patients. However, the clinical successes of engineered T cells for the treatment of solid malignancies have thus far been few and far between. Furthermore, several instances of severe and lethal toxicities have arisen due to on-target, off-tumor recognition of antigen by T cell products. Recent advances in phase I trials for solid tumors, as well as in pre-clinical models, have revealed several variables that will be important to consider for the successful use of CAR-T cells in treating solid tumors. These variables include (i) regional versus systemic delivery; (ii) scFv versus ligand interactions; (iii) antigen loss versus escape; (iv) epitope spreading and (v) checkpoint expression on immune cells or tumor cells. Also, there remains outstanding mechanistic questions related to why differences exist in the persistence and tonic signaling of second-generation CD28 versus 4-1BB co-stimulated CAR-T cells. In addition, we are now learning the roles of lympho-depleting regimens (and associated toxicities) in modifying the persistence of engineered T cell therapies. A more comprehensive view of CAR-T cell strategies and important advances, both of pre-clinical and clinical evaluations, in solid tumors is necessary to drive these therapies forward.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), such as anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1/PD-L, have demonstrated significant clinical effects on the neutralization of immunosuppressive mechanisms in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Over the years, tremendous advances have been made in cancer immunotherapy, yet we are far from discovering the cure for the disease.

the latest release in this ongoing, well-regarded serial, provides invaluable information on the exciting and fast-moving field of cancer research, with this updated edition covering chapters on A bioinformatic-driven prediction of MDA9 transcriptional variants' roles in cancer progression and treatment, Redox, cysteines, and kinases - A triad sustaining myeloid leukemia, The RAF cysteine-rich domain: structure, function, and role in disease , Membrane Potential: a new hallmark of cancer, Recent Advances and Progress in Immunotherapy of Solid Cancers, and much more.Other sections explore Precision Medicine: Non-Invasive Therapeutic Agent Delivery with Focused Ultrasound and Microbubbles and Anti-Cancer Activity of Capsaicin and its Analogs in Gynecological Cancers. - Provides the latest information on cancer research - Offers outstanding and original reviews on a range of cancer research topics - Serves as an indispensable reference for researchers and students alike

Cancer immunotherapy, including immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy, has revolutionized the paradigm in cancer treatment. However, the clinical outcome of immunotherapy varies considerably among patients and only a minority of patients achieve long-term clinical benefits. This is largely attributed to the fact that existing cancer immunotherapies, which concentrate on several classical targets (CTAL-4, PD-1/PD-L1, etc.) and limited types of immune cell populations (T cells), are insufficient to cope with the complexity of highly heterogeneous tumor microenvironment (TME). This calls for more efforts to not only expand our toolbox for manipulating anticancer immunity but also diversify our combinational strategies. To this end, it is urgent to deeper our understanding of cancer immunotherapy by using both experimental and computational methodologies from multi-scale perspectives: 1) novel targets from either tumor cells or non-tumor cells within TME (e.g., tumor intrinsic resistance drivers, new immune checkpoints, neoantigens), 2) in-depth characterization of more immune cell populations (e.g., macrophages, Tregs, B cells) and their interactions and dynamics within TME, 3) landscape of actionable targets in patient populations for combination design. These efforts will open the avenue of rational design of combinational immunotherapies, allowing researchers and clinicians to design novel targeting therapeutics or to optimally orchestrate combinatory strategies aiming to surmount resistance mechanisms and improve clinical outcomes.