Immunotherapeutic Challenges for Pediatric Cancers

Brian Hutzen; Mohammed Ghonime; Joel Lee; Elaine R Mardis; Ruoning Wang; Dean A Lee; Mitchell S Cairo; Ryan D Roberts; Timothy P Cripe; Kevin A Cassady

doi:10.1016/j.omto.2019.08.005

Immunotherapeutic Challenges for Pediatric Cancers

Mol Ther Oncolytics. 2019 Aug 28:15:38-48. doi: 10.1016/j.omto.2019.08.005. eCollection 2019 Dec 20.

Authors

Brian Hutzen¹, Mohammed Ghonime¹, Joel Lee², Elaine R Mardis^{1

2

3

4}, Ruoning Wang^{1

2

3}, Dean A Lee^{1

2

3}, Mitchell S Cairo⁵, Ryan D Roberts^{1

2

3}, Timothy P Cripe^{1

2

3}, Kevin A Cassady^{1

2

3

6}

Affiliations

¹ The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, USA.
² The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
³ Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, USA.
⁴ Institute for Genomic Medicine, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, USA.
⁵ Department of Pediatrics, Cancer and Blood Diseases Center, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, USA.
⁶ Division of Pediatric Infection Diseases, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, USA.

Abstract

Solid tumors contain a mixture of malignant cells and non-malignant infiltrating cells that often create a chronic inflammatory and immunosuppressive microenvironment that restricts immunotherapeutic approaches. Although childhood and adult cancers share some similarities related to microenvironmental changes, pediatric cancers are unique, and adult cancer practices may not be wholly applicable to our pediatric patients. This review highlights the differences in tumorigenesis, viral infection, and immunologic response between children and adults that need to be considered when trying to apply experiences from experimental therapies in adult cancer patients to pediatric cancers.

Keywords: CAR T cells; brain tumor; dendritic cell vaccine; immunosuppression; immunotherapy; metabolic antagonism; natural killer cells; neo-antigen; oncolytic virotherapy; sarcoma.

Publication types

Review

Abstract

Publication types

Grants and funding