Tumor Immunology

Tumor immunology is a field of study that explores the interaction between the immune system and cancer cells. Cancer cells can evade the immune system by various mechanisms, including downregulating the expression of antigens, producing immunosuppressive cytokines, and inducing T cell exhaustion.

Immunotherapy is an emerging treatment strategy for cancer that aims to activate the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. There are several types of immunotherapy, including checkpoint inhibitors, cancer vaccines, adoptive cell therapy, and oncolytic viruses.

Checkpoint inhibitors are drugs that block the inhibitory signals of immune checkpoint molecules, such as programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4), to restore the function of T cells. Cancer vaccines stimulate the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells by presenting cancer-specific antigens. Adoptive cell therapy involves the infusion of immune cells, such as tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, that are engineered to recognize and kill cancer cells. Oncolytic viruses are viruses that can selectively replicate in cancer cells and induce an immune response against cancer cells.

Tumor immunology is a rapidly evolving field, and ongoing research is focused on improving the efficacy and safety of immunotherapy for cancer treatment.