Immune tumor board: integral part in the multidisciplinary management of cancer patients treated with cancer immunotherapy.

Abstract

Recent progress in the understanding of immune responses to cancer and how tumor cells evade immune control have led to the successful introduction of cancer immunotherapy, in particular immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). Treatment of cancer patients with immunotherapy such as ICIs has led to new challenges, including starting and stopping rules for immunotherapy, the management of immune-related adverse events, and logistic issues for the production of cellular therapies and viral delivery vectors. These challenges are not disease- or organ-specific and several potential biomarkers to predict response to ICI are under investigation. We installed an interdisciplinary discussion platform for managing patient-specific challenges associated with cancer immunotherapy in our institution. Here, we describe an immune tumor board for the management of cancer patients treated with immunotherapy and provide an outlook on how such a platform could be potentially used in the future to discuss rational and personalized combination therapies, and how to improve the management of side effects occurring under immunotherapy.

• Authors: Heinz Läubli, Stefan Dirnhofer, Alfred Zippelius
• Journal: Virchows Archiv : an international journal of pathology (Virchows Arch) Vol. 474 Issue 4 Pg. 485-495 (Apr 2019) ISSN: 1432-2307 [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 30143868 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Topics

• Humans
• Immunotherapy (methods)
• Medical Oncology (organization & administration)
• Neoplasms (therapy)