Principles of immunotherapy

With recent success stories in melanoma, breast cancer, gastric cancer, renal cell carcinoma, prostate cancer, Hodgkin's lymphoma, squamous cell lung cancer, and other malignancies, immunotherapy has emerged as perhaps the most paradigm-changing treatment strategy to occur on the oncologic front in the last 35 years. At the NCCN 20th Annual Conference, Dr. Anthony J. Olszanski offered a primer on immunotherapeutic basics, featuring the complex interplay between the immune system and cancer; a comparative look at innate and adaptive immunity; and the topics of immune surveillance, tumor escape mechanisms, and immune suppression. Several examples of cancer immunotherapies in action are briefly presented.