Restoring apoptosis dysregulation using survivin inhibitor in nasopharyngeal cancer.

Background: Restoring apoptosis dysregulation via survivin inhibition has been investigated in several cancers. In Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-driven nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC), virally induced oncogenes can upregulate survivin. Therefore, we seek to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of YM-155 (a survivin inhibitor) in NPC, both in vitro and in vivo models.

Enhancing the immune stimulatory effects of cetuximab therapy through TLR3 signalling in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) positive nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Cetuximab immunotherapy targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has been used to treat nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) with some success. Therefore, combining an immune adjuvant to boost the immune microenvironment may improve its clinical efficacy. Herein, we investigate the immune-stimulatory effects of Poly-ICLC (a TLR3 agonist) in enhancing cetuximab-based immunotherapy and correlate these responses with FcɣRIIIa (V158F) or TLR3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs- L412F and C829T) expressed on immune effector cells.

Cellular-based immunotherapy in Epstein-Barr virus induced nasopharyngeal cancer.

Undifferentiated Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is ubiquitously identified with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), making this cancer a suitable candidate for cellular-based immunotherapy (CBI) due to its expression of potentially targetable tumor-associated viral antigens. Various preclinical and clinical studies have explored the use of cytotoxic T cells (CTLs), tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), natural killer (NK) cells, and dendritic cells (DCs) in the treatment of both refractory and locally advanced NPC with some success. Notably, immune-mediated antitumor effects were observed even in heavily pre-treated NPC patients, suggesting potential clinical benefit of CBI in this group of patients.