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Cancer vaccination | |
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Introduction Cancer is a worldwide health problem and one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality. Cancer arises from the uncontrolled spread of clones of transformed cells. Tumour cells have the ability to invade host tissues and metastasize to distant sites. In addition, it is believed that malignant tumours are able to overcome the mechanisms of host defense. Nevertheless, it is now clear that the immune system can in principle react against many tumours because of their expression of specific tumour antigens which are recognized as foreign by the immune system. There is great interest in an immunologic apporoach because current cancer therapies rely on drugs that kill dividing cells or block cell division with sometimes severe side effects on the host cells. The knowledge about the exquisite specificity of the adaptive immune responses has given rise to the hope that the immune system, if appropriately stimulated, may be eliminate the tumour without causing harm to the normal host cells. The method  Related topic  The genetic basis of tumour specific tumour antigens |
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