New Roads Open Up for Implementing Immunotherapy in Mesothelioma

Figure 3

Tumour growth is a dynamic biologic process, that is, the net result of cells dividing and other cells dying. Intrinsic tumour biology, as well as extrinsic factors such as therapies, affects the tumour’s growth rate. However, chemotherapy only affects the tumour growth rate while it is being administered, which may result in a dramatic but transient response. Following discontinuation of chemotherapy, the growth rate returns to its pretreatment slope, driven by the underlying biology of the tumour. Immunotherapy (red line), on the other hand, can alter the biology of the host by inducing an active antitumour immune response including a memory response. This may not cause an immediate or dramatic change in tumour burden, but continued cumulative slowing pressure on tumour growth rate, especially if started early in the disease course, which may lead to substantially longer overall survival. The arrow indicates the initiation of treatment; cross indicates time of death from cancer [48]. (Figure used with permission from author.)