Cancer Biology & Medicine (Jun 2017)

Cellular immunity augmentation in mainstream oncologic therapy

  • Daohong Chen,
  • Xiaoshi Zhang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2017.0022
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 2
pp. 121 – 128

Abstract

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Anticancer immunotherapy has undergone a long evolving journey for decades, and has been dramatically applied to mainstream treatments in oncology in recent 5 years. This progress represents an advanced milestone following cytotoxic medicine and targeted therapy. Cellular immunity plays a pivotal role in the immune responses of hosts to tumor antigens. Such immunity is notably suppressed during neoplastic progression due to immuno-editing processes. Cellular immunity can also be selectively re-activated to combat malignancies while exploiting the advantages of contemporary scientific breakthroughs in molecular immunology and genetic engineering. The rapid advancement of cellular immunity-based therapeutic approaches has achieved high efficacy in certain cancer patients. Consequently, the landscape of oncologic medicine and pharmaceutical innovation has transformed recently. In this regard, we present a comprehensive update on clinically established anti-cancer treatments with cell immunity augmentation as the major mechanism of action.

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