Special Issue "Immune Responses to Human Prostate Cancer"

Guest Editor
Dr. Kwong Yok Tsang
Cellular Immunology Group, Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, 10 Center Drive, MSC-1750, Building 10, Room 8B08, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
Website: http://ccr.cancer.gov/Labs/Lab.asp?LabID=39
E-Mail: kt84c@nih.gov
Phone: +1 301 496 9694
Fax: +1 301 496 2756
Interests: the role of the human immune response to tumor-associated antigens. We are working to define and develop immunodominant determinants and modifications of those determinants toward the optimal activation of human immune responses to tumor-associated antigens. Additionally, we are involved in studying mechanisms to enhance the potency of antigen-presenting cells for specific T cell activation. We are also developing immunologic methods and immunoassays to better define the efficacy of vaccine therapies for a range of human cancers.

Dear Colleagues,

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common malignancy in men in the United States and a leading cause of cancer death in North America. The American Cancer Society estimates that 217,730 men in the United States are diagnosed yearly, resulting in approximately 32,050 deaths. Immunotherapeutic approaches using peptide- or dendritic cell-based vaccines and poxviral-based vaccines have shown evidence of clinical benefit. A recently reported phase III trial of sipuleucel-T vaccine in patients with metastatic castration-resistant PCa (mCRPC) was the first trial with overall survival (OS) as the primary endpoint to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in OS with a cell-based therapeutic vaccine. A 43-center phase II randomized controlled trial of a poxviral-based PSA-targeted vaccine (PSA-TRICOM) in mCRPC also demonstrated an improvement in median OS of 8.5 months in this patient population. These data provide additional evidence that therapeutic vaccines can lead to improved OS. It is well established that the host immune response can influence the growth of prostate cancer. A weak antitumor response may reflect the fact that tumor antigens themselves are weakly immunogenic. Alternatively, a weak host immune response may be associated with prior treatment, particularly chemotherapy or radiotherapy, a fact that should be taken into consideration when designing clinical trials that employ a combination of cancer vaccines and standard therapies for prostate cancer. This special issue will cover many topics, but its main focus will be the components of innate, adaptive, and suppressive immune responses in prostate cancer patients. Thus, we are particularly interested in reports of prostate cancer clinical trials that employ cancer vaccines and standard therapies, and that show evidence of immune response and clinical benefit.

Dr. Kwong Yok Tsang
Guest Editor

Submission

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• prostate cancer
• tumor antigens
• immunotherapeutic
• cancer vaccines and standard therapies
• innate immune response
• adaptive immune response
• suppressive immune response
• clinical benefit