Gene expression profiling of anticancer immune responses

Anticancer immune responses can be enhanced by immune manipulation, however, the biological mechanism responsible for these immune responses remains largely unexplained. Conventional immunology researchers have extensively studied specific interactions between immune and cancer cells, and additional investigations have identified co-factors that may enhance the effectiveness of such interactions. As the molecular understanding of individual interactions increases, it is becoming apparent that no single mechanism can explain the phenomenon of tumor rejection. The contribution of several components of the innate and adaptive immune response is likely to be required for successful tumor rejection. These components may be variably recruited and activated by molecules with immune modulatory properties being produced by tumor and bystander cells within the tumor micro-environment. Such complexity can only be appreciated and solved by high-throughput tools capable of providing a global view of biological processes as they occur. This review will present selected examples of how high-throughput gene expression profiling may contribute to the understanding of anticancer immune responses. As reviews on technological aspects of the genomic analysis of cancer are already available, this review will provide a speculative discussion about their potential usefulness.