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Updated: Jun 10, 2026
Experimental Melanoma Immunotherapy Model Using Tumor Vaccination with a Hematopoietic Cytokine
Published on: February 24, 2023
Interleukins and cancer immunotherapy
Takayuki Yoshimoto1, Noriko Morishima, Masae Okumura
1Intractable Disease Research Center, Tokyo Medical University, 6-1-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8402, Japan. yoshimot@tokyo-med.ac.jp
Abstract:
Cancer is a complex disease with interactions between normal and neoplastic cells. Since current therapies for cancer largely rely on drugs or radiation that kill dividing cells or block cell division, these treatments may have severe side effects on normal proliferating cells in patients with cancer. Therefore, the potential for treatment of cancer patients by immunologic approaches, which may be specific for tumors and will not injure most normal cells, has great promise. Cancer immunotherapy aims to augment the weak host immune response to developing tumors. One strategy is to utilize cytokines such as IL-2. More recently, several exciting new interleukins have been characterized that have considerable promise for future immunotherapy. The promise of cancer immunotherapy largely depends upon the identification of these novel interleukins. This review provides an overview of the antitumor effects of relatively new interleukins as potential therapeutic agents applicable for cancer immunotherapy.
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