RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Current immunotherapy in gastrointestinal malignancies A Review
JF Journal of Investigative Medicine
JO J Investig Med
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 689
OP 696
DO 10.1136/jim-2020-001654
VO 69
IS 3
A1 Dushyant Singh Dahiya
A1 Asim Kichloo
A1 Jagmeet Singh
A1 Michael Albosta
A1 Manidhar Lekkala
YR 2021
UL http://hw-f5-jim.highwire.org/content/69/3/689.abstract
AB Immunotherapy is an extremely important breakthrough and an exciting new modality of treatment for a wide spectrum of cancers. It is focused around developing agents to stimulate or suppress the immune system, in a specific manner, to fight off a wide spectrum of diseases, particularly cancers. Traditional therapies available for the treatment of cancers include surgical intervention, chemotherapy, radiation therapy or a combination of these, which tend to be very non-specific. However, immunotherapy shows a stark difference from conventional therapy, in fact, that it has a high level of specificity for the tumor-specific antigens. The recent success of cancer immunotherapies in clinical trials is slowly revolutionizing the landscape for cancer therapy. The US Food and Drug Administration has approved numerous agents, after clinical trials showed promising results, for the treatment of multiple cancers. The role of immunotherapy in gastrointestinal cancers has also been very promising, particularly in patients with advanced metastatic disease or malignancies refractory to initial treatment. In this review of literature, we detail and discuss the immunotherapy agents approved for the treatment of GI cancers and glance at the future of immunotherapy for patients with these cancers.