Cytokines: Signalling Improved Immunotherapy?

ICI often fails to result in improved clinical outcomes for patients and lasting protection from cancer recurrence. The use of pro-inflammatory cytokines alongside ICI has been shown to enhance the efficacy of these therapies in vitro and in animal studies. However, the results in human clinical trials are less clear and many clinical trials do not publish results at the end of the trial. A deeper understanding of the molecular interactions between cytokines, tumors, and immune cells is needed to improve overall ICI outcomes and design combination trials. Critical examination of the design and characteristics of previous clinical trials can provide insight into the lack of effective clinical translation for many immunotherapeutic drugs.