Hypomethylating Agents and Immunotherapy: Therapeutic Synergism in Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndromes.

ABSTRACT: Decitabine and guadecitabine are hypomethylating agents (HMAs) that exert inhibitory effects against cancer cells. This includes stimulation of anti-tumor immunity in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) patients. Treatment of AML and MDS patients with the HMAs confers upregulation of cancer/testis antigens (CTAs) expression including the highly immunogenic CTA NY-ESO-1. This leads to activation of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells for elimination of cancer cells, and it establishes the feasibility to combine cancer vaccine with HMAs to enhance vaccine immunogenicity. Moreover, decitabine and guadecitabine induce the expression of immune checkpoint molecules in AML cells. In this review, the accumulating knowledge on the immunopotentiating properties o

SUBMITTER: Wong KK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7947882 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature