Immunotherapy has an interesting status in prostate cancer treatment research. It has attracted some of the best minds in prostate cancer research and motivated innovative laboratory and clinical research. However, we currently have only one agent FDA-approved for the treatment of prostate cancer, Provenge (Sipuleucel-T). Provenge is a cell-based vaccine that involves harvesting a patient’s immune cells, growing them up in large number and exposing these cells to a fragment of a protein found on prostate cancer cells. These cells are then infused back into the patient. This triggers an immune response to the cancer.

Provenge was approved by the FDA in 2010 for the treatment of patients with metastatic hormone resistant prostate cancer because it improved survival. One factor that has limited the use of Provenge is that patients often experience no shrinkage of cancer metastases nor a drop in the PSA. On the plus side, this vaccine has minimal side effects compared to most cancer treatment options.

Among the various immunotherapeutic approaches discussed in this issue, the immune check point inhibitor, B7-H3, looks promising. In this issue, Dr. Emmanuel Antonarakis covers the current status of agents that target B7-H3, including dramatic results in an early small trial in pre-prostatectomy patients. In addition to its role in protecting cancer cells from the immune system, this protein also appears to foster metastatic spread by stimulation invasion and abiogenesis.

Charles E. Myers, Jr., MD

P4
Lawrence Fong, MD
Frontiers in
Immunotherapy

P8
Oliver Sartor, MD
Immunotherapy For
Prostate Cancer in 2022

P10
James Gulley , MD
Immunotherapy Today

P14 Emmanuel Antonarakis, MD
Advances in Immunotherapy

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