Trained innate immunity
Giving the innate immune system a memory, so monocytes and NK cells respond harder the next time they meet a tumour.
BCG, the oldest immunotherapy, works partly by epigenetically reprogramming myeloid progenitors, an effect now called trained immunity. Beta-glucans and other agonists are being tested to induce the same state deliberately, alone or before checkpoint blockade. Evidence in cancer beyond intravesical BCG is early, and the same reprogramming can be immunosuppressive in the wrong context.
How it works
Epigenetic and metabolic rewiring of haematopoietic progenitors produces monocytes and NK cells with heightened effector responses lasting months.
- Cheap agonists, some already licensed
- Independent of tumour antigen and of T cells
- Clear precedent in bladder cancer
- Little cancer-specific clinical data outside BCG
- The direction of effect can reverse
- No standard assay to confirm training in patients
Latest papers
topQuery for this technology: (TITLE:"Trained innate immunity" OR ABSTRACT:"Trained innate immunity") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Trained innate immunity, not a curated reading list.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- TechnologyBreath and volatile-organic-compound detection
Shares Paths to cures: interception, eradication, control, Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035 and the tag frontier.
- TechnologyIntratumoural gene electrotransfer (IL-12 plasmid)
Shares Cytokines & engineered cytokines, Immune checkpoint inhibitors and the tag frontier.
- TechnologyTotal-body PET for screening and ultra-low-dose imaging
Shares Paths to cures: interception, eradication, control, Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035 and the tag frontier.
- TechnologySystematic drug repurposing
Shares Paths to cures: interception, eradication, control, Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035 and the tag frontier.
- TechnologyPhotothermal (plasmonic) nanoparticle ablation
Shares Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035 and the tag frontier.
- TechnologyMagnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia
Shares Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035 and the tag frontier.
- TechnologyQuantum-dot and molecular ultrasound imaging agents
Shares Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035 and the tag frontier.
- TechnologyProton arc therapy
Shares Radical oncology: what could change the war by 2035 and the tag frontier.