Near Infrared Photoimmunotherapy; A Review of Targets for Cancer Therapy

• Published in: Cancers Vol. 13; no. 11; p. 2535
• Main Authors: Kato, Takuya, Wakiyama, Hiroaki, Furusawa, Aki, Choyke, Peter L., Kobayashi, Hisataka
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 21.05.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Adenomatous polyposis coli; Antigen (tumor-associated); Antigen-presenting cells; Antigens; Apoptosis; Breast cancer; Cancer; Cancer therapies; cancer therapy; Cell surface; Clinical trials; Cytotoxicity; Epidermal growth factor; Esophagus; host immunity; I.R. radiation; Immune checkpoint inhibitors; Immune response; Immunotherapy; Kinases; Ligands; Light; Lymphocytes; Medical prognosis; Monoclonal antibodies; near-infrared photoimmunotherapy (NIR-PIT); Photodynamic therapy; Review; target molecule; Tumor cells; Tumors; Japan
• ISSN: 2072-6694; 2072-6694
• DOI: 10.3390/cancers13112535

Near-infrared photoimmunotherapy (NIR-PIT) is a newly developed cancer treatment that uses an antibody-photoabsorber (IRDye700DX) conjugate (APC) that is activated by NIR light irradiation. In September 2020, the first APC and laser system were conditionally approved for clinical use in Japan. A major benefit of NIR-PIT is that only APC-bound cancer cells that are exposed to NIR light are killed by NIR-PIT; thus, minimal damage occurs in adjacent normal cells. These early trials have demonstrated that in addition to direct cell killing, there is a significant therapeutic host immune response that greatly contributes to the success of the therapy. Although the first clinical use of NIR-PIT targeted epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), many other targets are suitable for NIR-PIT. NIR-PIT has now been applied to many cancers expressing various cell-surface target proteins using monoclonal antibodies designed to bind to them. Moreover, NIR-PIT is not limited to tumor antigens but can also be used to kill specific host cells that create immune-permissive environments in which tumors grow. Moreover, multiple targets can be treated simultaneously with NIR-PIT using a cocktail of APCs. NIR-PIT can be used in combination with other therapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, to enhance the therapeutic effect. Thus, NIR-PIT has great potential to treat a wide variety of cancers by targeting appropriate tumor cells, immune cells, or both, and can be augmented by other immunotherapies.