Effective immunotherapy against cancer

During the last decade, the breakthroughs in understanding of the molecular mechanisms responsible for immune activation and the advent of recombinant DNA technologies have changed the view on immunotherapy from a dream scenario to becoming a clinical reality. It is now clear that both cellular immunity comprising T and NK cells, as well as strategies based on antibodies, can provide strong antitumoral effects, and evidence is emerging that these strategies may also cure patients with previously incurable cancers. However, there are still a number of issues that remain unresolved. Progress in immunotherapy against cancer requires a combination of new, improved clinical protocols and strategies for overcoming mechanisms of immune escape and tumor-induced immune suppression. This review discusses some of the salient issues that still need to be resolved, focusing on the role of oxidative stress and the use of antioxidants to alleviate the immune hyporesponsiveness induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS).Abbreviations HLA Human leukocyte antigen - KIR Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor - NKR Natural killer cell receptor - ROS Reactive oxygen species - TAA Tumor-associated antigenThis work is part of the Symposium in Writing Tumor escape from the immune response, published in vol 53.