Is there a need to identify novel tumour antigens as targets for immunotherapy clinical trials for the removal of minimal residual disease in haematological malignancies?

Abstract

Despite the identification of many tumour antigens with the potential to act as targets for cancer vaccines and/or T-cell therapies very few have been used in clinical trials to date. This led to the timely development of a criteria which identified the ideal characteristics of tumour antigens which should be actively pursued for use in immunotherapy clinical trials. A list of 75 antigens were assessed against these criteria and although none harboured all of the characteristics identified as desirable, a number did show many of the characteristics identifying them as worthy of further pursuit to enable an organised development towards immunotherapy clinical trials. The study highlighted the benefit of focussing on a short list of antigens which would enable the rapid progress of a smaller number of antigens into clinical trials as targets for immunotherapy. However the antigens expressed by solid tumours often differ to those expressed by haematological malignancies, leading to this editorial which states the need for a similar study prioritising tumour antigens for use in clinical trials of haematological malignancies, independently of solid tumours. We also debate the importance of looking for new antigens in cancers in which few targets are known and discuss the importance of tumour antigens as biomarkers of disease diagnosis, stage and survival.