Cytokine therapy: clinical and progressive status in cancer

Immunologic approaches to cancer therapy rely on two distinct capabilities of the immune system: targeting the tumour microenvironment by recognising molecules expressed to a greater extent on tumour cells than normal cells and generating immune responses that can kill tumour cells. Immunocytokines, which are fusion proteins composed of a recombinant monoclonal antibody and a cytokine, capitalise on both of these capabilities by combining the ability of tumour-specific antibodies selectively to target tumours with the broad-based immunomodulatory activities of cytokines. This review hypothesises the rationale for development of immunocytokines for cancer and discusses preclinical and clinical data on specific immunocytokines being investigated as potential cancer therapies.