CHALLENGES IN MANIPULATING IMMUNE SYSTEM TO TREAT PROSTATE CANCER

First cancer vaccine that was approved for routine therapy was sipuleucel-T for treatment of patients with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer. However, other immunotherapy drugs evaluated in prostate cancer, particularly immune checkpoint inhibitors, have failed to show therapeutic effect. There are several potential explanations for lack of response of prostate cancer to these drugs. These explanations, which are related to specific genetic (e.g. low mutational burden) and immunological (e.g. immunosuppressive tumor immune microenvironment) background of prostate cancer are discussed in this review. Also, new therapeutic strategies to overcome prostate cancer immunotherapy resistance and to select subgroups of patients that could benefit from immunotherapy are outlined.