Rational Design of Combinations for the Treatment of Advanced Cancer

Despite our enormous effort and progress in medicine, cancer remains a top health issue worldwide. According to recent statistics, more than eight million people annually succumb to the disease in the world [1]. It is clear that we must work much harder in order to eliminate this disease in the next several decades. We have a hope, however, that can encourage us to do so and move forward: cancer immunotherapy. Systemic immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer has been investigated for many decades and has struggled to become a key player in that regard. Before new immunotherapy such as immune checkpoint inhibitors became available in human studies, the use of immunotherapy for advanced malignancy was very limited. Although cytokine therapies such as IL-2 were available in clinic, their indications were limited to melanoma and renal cell carcinoma [2]. Unclear survival benefit in both disease settings and poor tolerability made caregivers hesitant to prescribe these agents.