[Immunotherapy for cancer--modern immunologic strategies in oncology]

Immunotherapies have become an integral part of modern treatment concepts in oncology. The complexity of the regulation of the immune system gives rise to a multitude of different treatment approaches. Antibody based strategies are already used routinely in clinical day to day practice. Identification of new target antigens and the analysis of broader immunologic implications of antibody therapy are recent developments in this field. Antigen selection is also of high importance in the field of vaccination strategies. Vaccination strategies are now being investigated in adjuvant treatment settings but also the combination of vaccination and other treatment modalities show promising results in clinical trials. Another promising emerging field are T cell based therapies, with the clinically successful adoptive T cell transfer now being complemented by T cell receptor transfer strategies. This review summarizes the current concepts and future perspectives in immunotherapies for cancer.