Publication at First Faculty of Medicine, Second Faculty of Medicine, Third Faculty of Medicine |
2022
Abstract
At odds with other solid tumors, epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is poorly sensitive to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), largely reflecting active immunosuppression despite CD8(+) T cell infiltration at baseline. Accumulating evidence indicates that both conventional chemotherapeutics and targeted anticancer agents commonly used in the clinical management of EOC not only mediate a cytostatic and cytotoxic activity against malignant cells, but also drive therapeutically relevant immunostimulatory or immunosuppressive effects.
Here, we discuss such an immunomodulatory activity, with a specific focus on molecular and cellular pathways that can be harnessed to develop superior combinatorial regimens for clinical EOC care.