T-Cell Immunotherapies: A New Paradigm in Cancer Treatment
Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality, accounting for 0.6 million deaths in 2021, in the US alone. As per the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), by 2040, there are likely to be 27.5 million new cases and 16.3 million deaths related to cancer, annually. Although cancer therapeutics continue to be one of the most active areas, in terms of drug development, there is still a significant unmet need in this domain. In fact, conventional cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy, surgery and radiation therapy, have demonstrated very limited efficacy in late-stage cancers. Specifically, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are also associated with several side effects. In addition, their non-specific nature can have severe and detrimental effects on a patient’s quality of life. Cancer immunotherapy is currently classified among the four pillars of modern cancer therapies as given below: Amidst the current initiatives to develop more targeted anti-cancer therapies,...