Immunotherapy for cancer

The study of the immune system on the cellular and molecular level has made significant strides over the past several decades. The role of immune system against infection is self-evident. Although the role of the immune system in the immune surveillance of cancer has not been proven, the immune system is believed to play an interactive role in the regulation of tumor growth. Immunotherapy is the application of the immune system to fight against the tumor. Although immunotherapeutic approaches have been tried in many types of cancer, both malignant melanoma and renal cell carcinoma seem to show occasional, but definitive response to immunotherapy. The fact that immune eradication of tumor is most efficient when the tumor burden is minimal speaks for the fact that immunotherapy may be most effective for control of microscopic disease. Therefore, to maximize the effect of immunotherapy, the tumor burden needs to be reduced, hopefully to microscopic level either by surgery or in combination with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Also, new strategies are needed to develop more potent vaccines and stimulate effector cells to eradicate tumor cells under the most optimal conditions.