Background: Different from other malignant gynecologic tumors, gestational trophoblastic neoplasms (GTNs) exhibit an exceptionally high cure rate primarily through chemotherapeutic interventions. However, there exists a small subset of refractory GTNs that do not respond to conventional chemotherapies. In such cases, the emergence of immunotherapies has demonstrated significant benefits in managing various challenging GTNs.
Purpose: This article aims to provide a comprehensive and systematic review of the immune microenvironment and immunotherapeutic approaches for GTNs. The purpose is to identify potential biomarkers that could enhance disease management and summarize the available immunotherapies for ease of reference.
Methods: We reviewed the relevant literatures toward immunotherapies of GTNs from PubMed.
Conclusion: Current immunotherapeutic strategies for GTNs mainly revolve around immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1). Prominent examples include avelumab, pembrolizumab, and camrelizumab. However, existing researches into the underlying mechanisms are still limited.
Keywords: Gestational trophoblastic neoplasm; Immune check point inhibitors; Immune micro-environment; Immunotherapy.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.