Tumours: Immunotherapy

For many years, the treatment of cancer was primarily focused on surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, but as researchers learn more about how the body fights cancer on its own, antitumour immunotherapies are being developed. Although some therapeutic approaches in use today are nonspecific, most protocols are designed to be antigen specific; the latter can be accomplished by either adoptive transfer or vaccination. Recent preclinical and clinical studies reflect the effectiveness of immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy as a potential approach to specifically target cancer leaving normal cells safe.

Keywords: adoptive transfer; cancer; cytokines; immunotherapy; toll-like receptors; vaccination

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Salem, Mohamed L, Rubinstein, Mark P, and Cole, David J(Apr 2007) Tumours: Immunotherapy. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0001432.pub2]