Role of the immune system in cancer development and therapeutic implications.

This chapter elucidates immunological aspects in cancer therapy. For many years, the impact of the immune system in cancer immunity was a matter of debate. Nowadays, it is generally accepted that an active immune system can monitor, edit, and destroy malignantly transformed cells in vitro and in established tumor mouse models. However, the capacity of the immune system to fight human tumors is limited, as human tumors are highly individual, complex, and dynamic systems that have the capacity to modulate anticancer immune responses and to affect the tumor microenvironment. Here, we describe the development of innovative immunological strategies from a preclinical stage to clinical application. In the last decade, especially humanized monoclonal antibodies (mAb) have emerged as promising pharmaceutical tools (“magic bullet”) for the treatment of cancer in combination with radio- and/or chemotherapy