Targeted cancer immune therapy

Cancer has surpassed heart disease as the number one killer in the world, and standard cancer therapy such as radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery may have reached its plateau in further improving the outcome of treated patients. Biological therapies combined with other treatment approaches may be the next X-factor to greatly extend survival time and improve patients' quality of life. One of the most developed fields in biological therapy is immune therapy, which has stemmed into many branches due to its significance and the tremendous effort by a large population of scientists. Tumor-targeted antibody therapy has been successfully used for treating some types of tumors, and the first tumor vaccine against ovarian cancer has been developed for clinical application. Targeted Cancer Immune Therapy provides comprehensive coverage of novel immune therapeutic approaches, including cytokine therapy, engineered cell therapy, and the application of tumor-targeted antibodies for generating tumor-specific cell therapy, TLR ligand therapy, and cytokine therapy. In the section "Cytokine Immune Therapy," the authors review relatively new cytokine family members, such as the IL12 family, IL18, IL21, IL24, IL28, and IL29, in regard to the anti-tumor function and application in treating tumors. The strategy for targeting and retaining cytokines in the tumor microenvironment is also reviewed. The section "Cell-based Immune Therapy" focuses on reviewing "state of the art" approaches for engineering potent immune regulatory or effector cells, such as dendritic cells, T cells, and stem cells, for tumor targeting and initiation of tumor specific immune response. In the section "Targeted Immune Therapy," the authors rearticulate antibody therapy for boosting immune response, which includes immunocytokines, "T-body," and tumor targeted CpG ODN. Some or all of these innovative approaches may ultimately become effective future immune therapies for treating malignancy.