Novel immunotherapies for cancer and other diseases aim to trigger the immune system to produce durable responses, while overcoming the immunosuppression that may contribute to disease severity, and in parallel considering immunosafety aspects. Interleukin-2 (IL-2) was one of the first cytokines that the FDA approved as a cancer-targeting immunotherapy. However, in the past years, IL-2 immunotherapy is not actively offered to patients, due to limited efficacy, when compared to other novel immunotherapies, and the associated severe adverse events. In order to design improved in vitro and in vivo models, able to predict the efficacy and safety of novel IL-2 alternatives, it is important to delineate the mechanistic immunological events triggered by IL-2. Particularly, in this review we will discuss the effects IL-2 has with the bridging cell type of the innate and adaptive immune responses, dendritic cells. The pathways involved in the regulation of IL-2 by dendritic cells and T-cells in cancer and autoimmune disease will also be explored.
Keywords: Interleukin-2; T cells; adverse events; calcineurin/NFAT pathway; cancer; dendritic cells; immunotherapy.