Having the cake and eating it? Clofazimine boosts immunotherapy while limiting side effects

Lukas Kraehenbuehl; Jedd D Wolchok; Taha Merghoub; Daniel Hirschhorn

doi:10.1016/j.ccell.2024.03.007

Having the cake and eating it? Clofazimine boosts immunotherapy while limiting side effects

Cancer Cell. 2024 May 13;42(5):738-741. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2024.03.007. Epub 2024 Apr 4.

Authors

Lukas Kraehenbuehl¹, Jedd D Wolchok², Taha Merghoub³, Daniel Hirschhorn⁴

Affiliations

¹ Pharmacology Program, Weill Cornell Graduate School, New York, NY, USA; Swim Across America and Ludwig Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA; Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA; Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
² Swim Across America and Ludwig Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA; Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA; Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA; Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program, Weill Cornell Graduate School, New York, NY, USA; Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
³ Pharmacology Program, Weill Cornell Graduate School, New York, NY, USA; Swim Across America and Ludwig Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA; Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA; Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
⁴ Pharmacology Program, Weill Cornell Graduate School, New York, NY, USA; Swim Across America and Ludwig Collaborative Laboratory, Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA; Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: dah4023@med.cornell.edu.

PMID: 38579723
DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2024.03.007

Abstract

Combined immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) for cancer exhibits good efficacy in a subset of patients but also associates with immune-related adverse events. Xue et al. use an elegant drug screening strategy to identify the antimicrobial drug clofazimine as an agent that both potentiates ICB efficacy and decreases immune-related adverse events.

MeSH terms

Animals
Clofazimine* / adverse effects
Clofazimine* / therapeutic use
Humans
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors / adverse effects
Immunotherapy* / adverse effects
Immunotherapy* / methods
Neoplasms* / drug therapy
Neoplasms* / immunology