[The Pedigree of Immuno-Oncology - History and Current Status of Immunotherapy against Malignancy]

Since 1970s immunotherapy had been thought to be one of feasible strategies against malignancy. During that time nonspecific immunotherapy by biological response modifiers(BRMs), peptide vaccine therapy, dendritic cell-based vaccine therapy, adoptive cell therapy, targeting therapy by use of monoclonal antibody, and so on, had been investigated but finally they resulted in disappointment because of inappropriate clinical trials followed by limited efficacy. Therefore the understanding of clinical oncologists in regard to immunotherapy had been considerably poor until 2010. Nevertheless the steady efforts had made a progress in immunotherapy against malignancy, especially in the field of immunological targeting therapy by use of monoclonal antibodies related to immune checkpoint pathway. Even though there are plenty of problems to be resolved especially in terms of biomarker, the blockade of the immune checkpoint pathway could be effective in many patients with a variety of advanced malignant tumors, and in some cases inducing durable remissions. There is no longer any doubt that the immune system does work in tumor eradication. Nowadays immunotherapy has come of age and the same as surgical resection, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, immunotherapy could hold an important position in the field of strategies against malignancy.