Immunotherapy: Timeline of key events

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Developed by EMD Serono, avelumab was the first FDA approved product to treat metastatic Merckel cell carcinoma. Approval was given on the basis of basis of a clinical trial of 88 patient, 33% of whom experienced a complete or partial shrinkage of their tumours. In patients who responded, 86% had a response that last 6 months, and 45% had a response that lasted more than 12 months. The drug is being developed through an alliance between Merck KGaA and Pfizer. 2017-03-23T00:00:00+0000The drug CTL019 (tisagenlecleucel) was developed by Novartis. Treatment involves removing T cells from the patient and genetically modifying them to increase their capacity to bind to tumour cells in order to get the immune sytem to attack the tumours. It is targeted at children and young adults from three to 25 years old who have not responded to traditional treatments.2017-07-12T00:00:00+0000The drug Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) is the first gene therapy to become available in the US. 2017-08-30T00:00:00+0000The drug, a form of immunotherapy, is a PDL1 checkpoint inhibitor.2017-09-20T00:00:00+0000Research conducted by team led by Laurence Zitvogel at the Gustave Roussy Cancer Institute. B.Routy, 'Gut microbiome influences efficacy of PD-1–based immunotherapy against epithelial tumors', Science, eaan3706 DOI: 10.1126/science.aan37062017-11-02T00:00:00+0000Collaborative study led by Jennifer Wargo and Vancheswaran Gopalakrishnan. V. Gopalakrishnan et al, 'Gut microbiome modulates response to anti–PD-1 immunotherapy in melanoma patients', Science, 2 Nov 2017, eaan4236, DOI: 10.1126/science.aan42362017-11-02T00:00:00+0000Allison helped to demonstrate the importance of blocking CTLA-4, a protein found on T-cells, for cancer treatment, which laid the foundation for the development of ipilimumab. Honjo discovered, PD-1, another type of protein found on T-cells which cancer cells were subsequently discovered to hijack to evade attack by the immune system. 2018-10-01T00:00:00+0000The researchers inserted genetic instructions into a virus called enadenotuvirev to produce a protein, called a bispecific T-cell engager. Already being clinically tested for treating carcinomas the virus has been bred to infect only cancer cells and leave healthy ones alone. The objective is to hijack the virus's machinery so that the T-cell engager is only produced in infected cancer cells and nowhere else in the body. Such an approach aims to kill both carcinoma cells and adjacent cells that are tricked into shielding the cancer from destruction from the immune system. Funded by the MRC and Cancer Research UK, the scientists successfully tested the innovative viral delivery system on fresh human cancer samples collected from consenting patients, including solid prostate cancedr tumours. The results were published in JD Freedman et al, 'An Oncolytic Virus Expressing a T-cell Engager Simultaneously Targets Cancer and Immunosuppressive Stromal Cells', Cancer Research (2018), 1-14. 2018-11-16T00:00:00+0000A team of managed to reprogramme the skin cells into dendritic cells. These immune cells search the body's tissues for foreign particles, such as bacteria, viruses or cancer cells, and devour them. The team identified three essential proteins (PU.1, IRF8 and BATF3) that are required to transform the the skin cells into dendritic cells. The process takes only 9 days and opens the possibility of developing novel dendritic cell-based immunotherapies against cancer. The research was published in FF Rosa et al, 'Direct reprogramming of fibroblasts into antigen-presenting dendritic cells', Science Immunology, 3/30 (2018) eaau4292, DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aau42922018-12-07T00:00:00+0000The trial used mRNA technology to tailor a vaccine to match the patient's cancer so that it could increase the effectiveness of immunotherapy to prime their immune system to attack their cancerous cells. Tried out in 157 patients with stage 3 or stage 4 melanoma who already had surgery, the therapy showed that patients given both the vaccine and pembrolizumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor used for treating melanoma, reduced the risk of cancer recurrence by 44%.2022-12-14T00:00:00+0000
Date Event People Places Sciences
23 Mar 2017FDA granted accelerated approval to avelumab, a PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor, to treat Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare form of skin cancer treatment, in patients 12 years and older with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare form of skin disorderEMD Serono, Merck KGaA, PfizerImmune checkpoint inhibitors, Cancer immunotherapy, Oncology, Monoclonal antibodies
12 Jul 2017US FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee recommended the approval of the first adoptive cell therapy (CAR-T cell therapy) for B cell acute leukaemiaJuneNovartis, University of PennsylvaniaCancer immunotherapy, Oncology, Adoptive cell therapy, Gene therapy
30 Aug 2017USA FDA approved CAR-T therapy for certain pediatric and young adult patients with a form of acute lymphoblastic leukemiaJuneNovartis, University of PennsylvaniaCancer immunotherapy, Oncology, Adoptive cell therapy, Gene therapy
20 Sep 2017Nivolumab (Opdivo®) made available for NHS patients with advanced lung cancer Honko, FreemanMedarex, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ono PharmaceuticalImmune checkpoint inhibitors, Immunotherapy, Monoclonal antibodies
2 Nov 2017Cancer patients taking routine antibiotics before or soon after given PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor found to relapse quicker and have shorter survival timeZitvogel, KroemerInstitut Gustave RoussyCancer immunotherapy, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Oncology, Microbiome
2 Nov 2017Experiments with mice show tumour growth can be reduced by giving faecal transplants from patients who positively responded to cancer immunotherapyWargo, GopalakrishnanMD Anderson Cancer Center, Institute Gustave-RoussyCancer immunotherapy, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Oncology, Microbiome
1 Oct 2018James Allison and Tasuku Honjo were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of immune checkpoint inhibitors for cancer therapyAllison, HonjoUniversity of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Kyoto UniversityCancer immunotherapy, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Oncology
16 Nov 2018Virus genetically engineered to kill cancer cells opening new immunotherapy avenueFreedman, Duffy, Lei-Rossman, Muntzer, Scott, Hagel, Campo, Bryant, Verrill, Lambert, Miller, Champion, Seymour, Fisher, RichardsonOxford UniversityCancer immunotherapy
7 Dec 2018Mouse and human skin cells reprogrammed into immune cells to fight cancerRosa, Pires, Kurtochkin, Ferreira, Gomes, Palma, Shaiv, Solanas, Azenha, Papatsenko, Schulz, Reis e Sousa, Carlos-Filipe Lund University, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Francis Crick InstituteCancer immunotherapy, Stem cells
14 Dec 2022First randomised-trial testing of mRNA vaccine for cancer to boost immunotherapy reported to be promising in patients with metastatic skin cancer Moderna, MerckmRNA, immune checkpoint inhibitors, cancer immunotherapy

23 Mar 2017

FDA granted accelerated approval to avelumab, a PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor, to treat Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare form of skin cancer treatment, in patients 12 years and older with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare form of skin disorder

12 Jul 2017

US FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee recommended the approval of the first adoptive cell therapy (CAR-T cell therapy) for B cell acute leukaemia

30 Aug 2017

USA FDA approved CAR-T therapy for certain pediatric and young adult patients with a form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia

20 Sep 2017

Nivolumab (Opdivo®) made available for NHS patients with advanced lung cancer

2 Nov 2017

Cancer patients taking routine antibiotics before or soon after given PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor found to relapse quicker and have shorter survival time

2 Nov 2017

Experiments with mice show tumour growth can be reduced by giving faecal transplants from patients who positively responded to cancer immunotherapy

1 Oct 2018

James Allison and Tasuku Honjo were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of immune checkpoint inhibitors for cancer therapy

16 Nov 2018

Virus genetically engineered to kill cancer cells opening new immunotherapy avenue

7 Dec 2018

Mouse and human skin cells reprogrammed into immune cells to fight cancer

14 Dec 2022

First randomised-trial testing of mRNA vaccine for cancer to boost immunotherapy reported to be promising in patients with metastatic skin cancer

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