Immunotherapy in Advanced Prostate Cancer: Current Knowledge and Future Directions

The advent of immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment. Unfortunately, this has not been the case for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), likely due to the heterogeneous and immune-suppressive microenvironment present in prostate cancer. The identification of molecular biomarkers that could predict response to immunotherapy represents one of the current challenges in this clinical scenario. The management of advanced castrationresistant prostate cancer is rapidly evolving and immunotherapy treatments, mostly consisting of immune checkpoint inhibitors combinations, BiTE (R) (bispecific T-cell engager) immune therapies, and chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) are in development with promising results. This review analyses the current evidence of immunotherapy treatments for mCRPC, evaluating past failures and promising approaches and discussing the directions for future research.

Automated summary

The use of immunotherapy has had a significant impact on cancer treatment, but it has not been as effective for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) due to the complex and immune-suppressive microenvironment of prostate cancer. Identifying molecular biomarkers for predicting treatment response is a key challenge. However, there are promising developments in immunotherapy treatments, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors combinations, BiTE® immune therapies, and chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) that may address this issue.