Innate Immune Agonists in Cancer Immunotherapy

Dear Colleagues,

There is a pressing need to overcome the low immunogenicity of cancer vaccines as well as to lower the tumor microenvironment’s tolerance. Pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) delivered into tumors make them look like pathogen-infected tissues and elicit an innate immune activation cascade to lower this tolerance. Our immune cells contain a series of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), activated by PAMPs as well as small molecule innate immune agonists, which structurally resemble PAMPs but lack their infectious capacities. These agonists engage the immune cells via the induction of inflammatory cytokines, interferons, and co-stimulatory molecules and provide indispensable initial signals that determine the type, magnitude, and durability of the immune response. Several small molecule PRR agonists have been developed and actively pursued for their antitumor potential, either as immunotherapeutics or vaccine adjuvants. This Special Issue aims to highlight the use of innate immune agonists in cancer immunotherapy as an approach that has enormous, yet somehow still untapped, potential to induce antitumor immunity.

Dr. Žiga Jakopin
Guest Editor

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