eBook: Immuno-oncology: Understanding Cell-Based Therapeutics
When compared to more traditional chemotherapeutic strategies, the precision of the immune system allows for a more targeted approach in the killing of cancer cells, whilst sparing healthy cells. Immuno-oncology (IO) is a rapidly progressing therapeutic approach that harnesses the body’s immune system to fight cancer.
Therapeutics approaches range from cell-based methods such as adoptive cell therapy (ACT) employing immune cells, to antibodies such as checkpoint inhibitors.
Rapid advances from bench to bedside have culminated in several US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals. Despite this progress, obstacles such as the high cost and technical difficulties of phenotyping, profiling and purifying immune cells, still occur. In addition, there is a need to uncover the mechanistic basis for differing patient outcomes.
Improved technical platforms are used to accelerate discovery. The iQue® Advanced Flow Cytometry Platform addresses the shortcomings of more traditional methods, in facilitating preclinical and clinical testing IO research.
This article collection focuses on critical developments and applications in the immuno-oncology field, including CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor expressing T-cell), NK cell (natural killer cell) based approaches and antibodies targeting checkpoint proteins.
