The main challenge in treating high-risk neuroblastoma is to stop or control tumour spread and development of resistance to multiple chemotherapeutic drugs. Immunotherapy is one of the recent advances in our understanding how our immune system handles body invaders such as virosis, bacteria and now tumour cells. Immunotherapy holds great promise as a treatment option for neuroblastoma as well as for many adult cancers owing to the specificity of immune effector cells targeted to a tumour. Another advantage is a potential reduction in the systemic side effects observed with other forms of treatment.
This video ‘Tumour immunology and immunotherapy’ will give a brief overview of the basic concepts.
Immunotherapeutic approaches for neuroblastoma include the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells against both L1-CAM and ganglioside 2 (GD2) cell surface antigens to promote host antitumor response. Anti-GD2 antibodies bind GD2 and cause cell death by activating both complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) and AB-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) from natural-killer cells.