Immunotherapy for pleural mesothelioma has been used in recent years alone or in combination with other treatment methods, mostly in an experimental setting through clinical trials. In October of 2020, the FDA approved the combination immunotherapy treatment of two agents: nivolumab and ipilimumab, as first-line treatment for mesothelioma. Nivolumab is an agent typically called PD-L1 inhibitor, or checkpoint inhibitor. In simple terms, nivolumab blocks the tumor’s ability to put the breaks on the immune system, thus allowing the immune system to see the tumor and attack it. Ipilimumab is a monoclonal antibody and operates in a similar fashion but through a slightly different pathway by also blocking the inhibiting properties of dendritic cells by binding to a receptor called CTLA-4.
In mesothelioma, immunotherapy is often used in experimental settings in combination with other immunotherapeutic agents, in combination with chemotherapy, or in combination with anti-angiogenesis agents (agents that inhibit VEGF, a protein responsible for blood vessel growth). When used alone, checkpoint inhibitor-based immunotherapy sees a response rate of approximately 20% (meaning that in 100 patients, only 20 will respond to this kind of treatment).
When appropriate, patients are encouraged to obtain these types of unproven treatments through a clinical trial setting. Read more about why participation in clinical trials is important.
There are currently many types of immunotherapy clinical trials available; however depending on the type of mesothelioma, not all may be advisable to all patients. Please consult with your mesothelioma specialist or contact the Meso Foundation’s medical expert prior to enrolling into a study.
For an overview of some recently opened studies, search our MesoTV archives to hear interviews with experts who run these trials.
