Henriksen Nicole L, Jensen Peter Ø, Jensen Louise K
Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Clinical Microbiology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark; Institute for Inflammation Research, Center for Rheumatology and Spine Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
J Infect. 2025 Feb;90(2):106391. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2024.106391. Epub 2025 Jan 3.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors designed to reinvigorate immune responses suppressed by cancer cells have revolutionized cancer therapy. Similarities in immune dysregulation between cancer and infectious diseases have prompted investigations into the role of immune checkpoints in infectious diseases, including the therapeutic potential of immune checkpoint blockade and drug repurposing. While most research has centered around viral infections, data for bacterial infections are emerging. This systematic review reports on the in vivo effect of immune checkpoint blockade on bacterial burden and selected immune responses in preclinical studies of bacterial infection, aiming to assess if there could be a rationale for using immunotherapy for bacterial infections. Of the 42 analyzed studies, immune checkpoint blockade reduced the bacterial burden in 60% of studies, had no effect in 28% and increased the bacterial burden in 12%. Findings suggest that the effect of immune checkpoint blockade on bacterial burden is context-dependent and in part relates to the pathogen. Further preclinical research is required to understand how the therapeutic effect of immune checkpoint blockade is mediated in different bacterial infections, and if immune checkpoint blockade can be used as an adjuvant to conventional infection management strategies.
旨在重振被癌细胞抑制的免疫反应的免疫检查点抑制剂彻底改变了癌症治疗。癌症和传染病之间免疫失调的相似性促使人们研究免疫检查点在传染病中的作用，包括免疫检查点阻断和药物重新利用的治疗潜力。虽然大多数研究集中在病毒感染，但关于细菌感染的数据也在不断涌现。本系统综述报告了在细菌感染的临床前研究中，免疫检查点阻断对细菌负荷和选定免疫反应的体内影响，旨在评估使用免疫疗法治疗细菌感染是否有理论依据。在42项分析研究中，60%的研究中免疫检查点阻断降低了细菌负荷，28%的研究中没有效果，12%的研究中增加了细菌负荷。研究结果表明，免疫检查点阻断对细菌负荷的影响取决于具体情况，部分与病原体有关。需要进一步的临床前研究来了解免疫检查点阻断在不同细菌感染中的治疗效果是如何介导的，以及免疫检查点阻断是否可以用作传统感染管理策略的辅助手段。
