Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2004 Apr 1;350(14):1461-3.
doi: 10.1056/NEJMcibr045001.

Shedding light on immunotherapy for cancer

Affiliations
Review

Shedding light on immunotherapy for cancer

Steven A Rosenberg. N Engl J Med. .
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Two Approaches to Immunotherapy
The two main approaches to immunotherapy for cancer are vaccine therapy and cell-transfer therapy. Three steps are required for effective treatment: there must be sufficient numbers of lymphocytes with avid recognition of tumor antigens; these lymphocytes must reach the tumor; and once there, they must be able to destroy the tumor cells. Cancer vaccines depend on the in vivo generation of immune cells by an immunizing vector. Yu et al. used an approach that increases the exposure of T lymphocytes to tumor tissue; they immunized mice with cells modified to secrete a molecule that enhances the flow of naive lymphocytes into tumor tissue and, hence, their sensitization to tumor antigen. Cell-transfer therapies involve sensitizing autologous lymphocytes ex vivo, expanding the population, and then infusing the lymphocytes into the host.

References

    1. Yu P, Lee Y, Liu W, et al. Priming of naive T cells inside tumors leads to eradication of established tumors. Nat Immunol. 2004;5:141–9. - PubMed
    1. Rosenberg SA, Yang JC, Schwartzentruber DJ, et al. Immunologic and therapeutic evaluation of a synthetic peptide vaccine for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma. Nat Med. 1998;4:321–7. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Khong HT, Restifo N. Natural selection of tumor variants in the generation of “tumor escape” phenotypes. Nat Immunol. 2002;3:999–1005. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Overwijk WW, Theoret MR, Finkelstein SE, et al. Tumor regression and autoimmunity after reversal of a functionally tolerant state of self-reactive CD8+ T cells. J Exp Med. 2003;198:569–80. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dudley ME, Wunderlich JR, Robbins PF, et al. Cancer regression and autoimmunity in patients after clonal repopulation with antitumor lymphocytes. Science. 2002;298:850–4. - PMC - PubMed

Substances