Immunotherapy and Cancer: The Pharmacists’ Perspective
摘要
Cancer treatment is multimodal and may include a combination of surgery, radiation therapy, or systemic anticancer agents (Cordes et al., Pharmacotherapy: a pathophysiologic approach, 11th edn. McGraw-Hill Education, New York, 2020). Health professionals in cancer care must be familiar with all treatment options, with pharmacists mainly focusing on the systemic therapy modalities (Cordes et al., Pharmacotherapy: a pathophysiologic approach, 11th edn. McGraw-Hill Education, New York, 2020). Pharmacists know the various medication classes, indications, mechanisms of action, pharmacodynamic and pharmacogenomic properties, proper dosing strategies, monitoring parameters, and adverse event profiles of systemic anticancer therapy agents (Cordes et al., Pharmacotherapy: a pathophysiologic approach, 11th edn. McGraw-Hill Education, New York, 2020). Immunotherapy is a subset of systemic anticancer therapy that utilizes the host immune system to eliminate cancer cells and has been quickly growing as a promising strategy due to long-lasting efficacy and more tolerable side-effect profiles (Abbott and Ustoyev, Semin Oncol Nurs 35(5):150923, 2019). Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are a subclass of immunotherapy that reverses the immune downregulation that cancer cells can express (Vaddepally et al., Cancers (Basel) 12(3):738, 2020). This medication class allows T cells to resume their cytotoxic function of appropriately killing cancer cells. This can be done via two mechanisms: cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 or programmed death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 (Vaddepally et al., Cancers (Basel) 12(3):738, 2020). Medications that have obtained FDA approval from 2011 through 2021 include ipilimumab, pembrolizumab, nivolumab, cemiplimab-rwlc, dostarlimab, atezolizumab, avelumab, and durvalumab (Vaddepally et al., Cancers (Basel) 12(3):738, 2020). Since the first approval of these medications, the dosing, frequency, and use in combination therapies have evolved. Additionally, the increased use of these agents has led to an enhanced understanding of immune-related adverse events in the general population, in those patients with autoimmune disorders, and potential drug interactions with corticosteroids and vaccines. Pharmacists provide a valuable role in managing patients receiving ICIs, ensuring the correct medication is used for appropriate FD-labeled indications at the proper dosing schedule, identify and navigate potential drug and vaccine interactions, and help manage immune-related adverse events due to treatment.