In-situ tumor vaccination: Bringing the fight to the tumor

After decades of development in the shadow of traditional cancer treatment, immunotherapy has come into the spotlight. Treatment of metastatic tumors with monoclonal antibodies to T cell checkpoints like programed cell death 1 (PD-1) or its ligand, (PD-L1), have resulted in significant clinical responses across multiple tumor types. However, these therapies fail in the majority of patients with solid tumors, in particular those who lack PD1(+)CD8(+) tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes within their tumors. Intratumoral "in situ vaccination" approaches seek to enhance immunogenicity, generate tumor infiltrating lymophcytes (TIL) and drive a systemic anti-tumor immune response, directed against "unvaccinated," disseminated tumors. Given the emerging picture of intratumoral immunotherapy as safe and capable of delivering systemic efficacy, it is anticipated that these approaches will become integrated into future multi-modality therapy.