Cancer chemo-immunotherapeutics has evolved with a strategic slogan -
‘marrying chemotherapy with immunotherapy’ - in order to optimize the chance for
cure. The ultimate goal is to execute a ‘two hit’ impact, able on the one hand to mount
a robust anti-tumour immune response, and on the other hand, selectively eradicate
tumour growth and progression. Tremendous progress has been, and being, made in
this regard by testing various ‘chemotherapy-immunotherapy’ drug combinations in the
clinic, and also implementing multiple pharmacological and biological interventions
against fundamental regulatory pathways involved in tumour development,
progression, and tumour immune escape mechanisms. This chapter discusses the
current ‘chemotherapy-immunotherapy’ combinations in clinical studies/trials, as well
as the pharmacological manipulation of host-tumour cell interactions mapping the road
ahead to a novel trend/concept of ‘two hit’ chemo-immunotherapeutics. At the end, we
also discuss the patents issued and recent patent applications stating the novel chemoimmunotherapy
methods with diverse interventional combinations, some of which
produce synergistic anti-tumour effects, to treat multiple advanced cancers.
Keywords: ARG, Cancer, Chemotherapy, Chemo-immunotherapy, Cancer
vaccines, CIK cells, CTLA4, Cytokine, FOLFOX, GVAX, IDO, Immune
suppression, Immuno-oncology, Kinase inhibition, mAbs, mTOR, MAPK, PKA,
R-CHOP, TroVax®.
