Immunobiology of Thymic Epithelial Tumors: Implications for Immunotherapy with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) are a group of rare thoracic malignancies, including thymic carcinomas (TC) and thymomas (Tm). Autoimmune paraneoplastic diseases are often observed in TETs, especially Tms. To date, chemotherapy is still the standard treatment for advanced disease. Unfortunately, few...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of molecular sciences 2020-11, Vol.21 (23), p.9056
Main Authors: Tateo, Valentina, Manuzzi, Lisa, De Giglio, Andrea, Parisi, Claudia, Lamberti, Giuseppe, Campana, Davide, Pantaleo, Maria Abbondanza
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antibodies
Antigens
Autoimmune diseases
Autoimmunity
Carcinoma
Chemotherapy
Clinical Trials as Topic
Disease
Health services
Humans
Immune checkpoint inhibitors
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors - adverse effects
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors - therapeutic use
immuno-oncology
immunobiology
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy - adverse effects
Inhibitors
Ligands
Lung cancer
Medical prognosis
Models, Biological
Neoplasms
Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial - immunology
Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial - pathology
Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial - therapy
Protein Kinase Inhibitors - therapeutic use
Review
Thorax
thymic carcinoma
thymic epithelial tumors
thymoma
Thymus
Thymus gland
Thymus Neoplasms - immunology
Thymus Neoplasms - pathology
Thymus Neoplasms - therapy
Transcription factors
Tumors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) are a group of rare thoracic malignancies, including thymic carcinomas (TC) and thymomas (Tm). Autoimmune paraneoplastic diseases are often observed in TETs, especially Tms. To date, chemotherapy is still the standard treatment for advanced disease. Unfortunately, few therapeutic options are available for relapsed/refractory TETs. In the last few years, the deepening of knowledge on thymus' immunobiology and involved altered genetic pathways have laid the foundation for new treatment options in these rare neoplasms. Recently, the immunotherapy revolution has landed in TETs, showing both a dark and light side. Indeed, despite the survival benefit, the occurrence of severe autoimmune treatment-related adverse events has risen crescent uncertainty about the feasibility of immunotherapy in these patients, prone to autoimmunity for their cancer biology. In this review, after summarizing immunobiology and immunopathology of TETs, we discuss available data on immune-checkpoint inhibitors and future perspectives of this therapeutic strategy.
ISSN:1422-0067
1661-6596
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms21239056