Immunotherapy against cancer: A comprehensive review

The endeavor of this paper was to review cancer immunotherapy which means the modulating and using of the patient’s own immune system to target the cancer cells rather than using an extrinsic means of therapy. The best way to prevent and remove infections is through the natural 'sterilising' action of the immune response that combines elements of both innate and adaptive immunity to ward off foreign pathogens without medical intervention. The use of immunostimulants, non-specific approach, for cancer therapy is one of the earliest approaches in immunotherapy that aims to enhance the activity of the lymphocytes that are already attacking to the tumour cells but are insufficient to produce a full-powered immune response. In this review, radioimmunotherapy (coupling a radioactive atom to a monoclonal antibody (mAb)), immunotoxins (generated by coupling plant-derived or bacterial toxins to mAbs), antibody-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (an antibody is used as a vector to transfer an enzyme) and immunomodulators were among the discussed approaches to use mAbs as an anti-cancer. A new and promising immunotherapy that is especially highly effective against metastatic melanoma, adoptive cell therapy (ACT), and different cancer vaccines were also reviewed in detail. Key words: Adoptive cell therapy, cancer immunotherapy, cancer vaccines, immunostimulants, monoclonal antibodies.