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Adjuvant Immunotherapy for Cancer: From Basic Research to Clinical Bench

  • Chapter
Inflammation and Immunity in Cancer

Abstract

Microbial infection is usually accompanied by inflammation and tissue wounding. These local symptoms are dependent on a host’s immune response rather than the direct cell damage by invading microbes. A microbe usually contains pattern molecules that enhance the host immune response. Clinical tests medicating cancer patients with this microbial component (namely adjuvant) were tried prior to the twentieth century, when the outline of the immune system had not yet been unveiled molecularly. These tests showed effect in some patients, though accompanied by side effects. The response to adjuvants was also useful for understanding the host–defense mechanism, later elucidated as innate immunity. Adjuvant is a general term for molecules that imitate a host immune-stimulator of microbes that activates pattern recognition receptors in the innate system to enhance interferons/cytokines and activation of the cellular immune system. This chapter outlines the history of adjuvant and the updated understanding by which an adjuvant is rationally introduced into anti-tumor immunity.

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Abbreviations

AP1:

Activator protein-1

BCG:

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (a live attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis)

BCG-CWS:

BCG–cell wall skeleton

CTL:

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte

DC:

Dendritic cell

dsRNA:

Double-stranded RNA

GMP:

Good Manufacturing Practice

IFN:

Interferon

IFNAR1:

Interferon (α and β) receptor 1

IL:

Interleukin

INAM:

IRF3-dependent natural killer-activating molecule

IRF:

Interferon regulatory factor

MAPK:

Mitogen-activated protein kinase

MDA5:

Melanoma differentiation-associated protein-5

MDP:

Muramyl dipeptide

NK:

Natural killer

Pam2CS:

S-[2,3-bis(palmitoyloxy)-(2RS)-propyl]-R-cysteinyl-S-serine

PAMP:

Pathogen-associated molecular pattern

PGN:

Peptidoglycan, polyI:C, polyinosinic–polycytidylic acid

RIG-I:

Retinoic acid-inducible gene-I

TAA:

Tumor-associated antigen

TDM:

Trahalose dimycolate

TICAM-1:

Toll–IL-1 receptor domain-containing adaptor molecule 1

TLR:

Toll-like receptor

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Acknowledgement

Thoughtful discussions by our laboratory members are gratefully acknowledged. There is no competing interest in this study. This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture and the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan, and by a MEXT Grant-in-Project ‘the Carcinogenic Spiral’ from the National Cancer Center Research and Development Fund (23-A-44). This work was also supported by the Takeda Science Foundation, the Yasuda Cancer Research Foundation, and the Iskra Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 15, Nishi 7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-8638, Japan

    Misako Matsumoto, Masahiro Azuma & Tsukasa Seya

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  1. Misako Matsumoto
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  2. Masahiro Azuma
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  3. Tsukasa Seya
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Correspondence to Tsukasa Seya .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

    Tsukasa Seya

  2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

    Misako Matsumoto

  3. Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Nankoku, Kochi, Japan

    Keiko Udaka

  4. School of Medicine, Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

    Noriyuki Sato

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Matsumoto, M., Azuma, M., Seya, T. (2015). Adjuvant Immunotherapy for Cancer: From Basic Research to Clinical Bench. In: Seya, T., Matsumoto, M., Udaka, K., Sato, N. (eds) Inflammation and Immunity in Cancer. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55327-4_18

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