Scientific and clinical basis of immunotherapy for solid tumors

During the last 30 yr, the principles of cancer immunology and tumor immunology have been well established. Cancers in man have been shown to have tumor associated antigens which can induce immune responses in the tumor bearing patient. In addition, immunocompetence and prognosis in cancer have clearly been related and the association of immunological deficiency with rapidly progressing cancer has been documented. Conventional surgical and radiotherapeutic approaches to cancer have either reached or are close to their limits and provide only local control for this frequently systemic disease. Systemic chemotherapy offers promising leads but as yet is only palliative in the majority of patients with cancer. This opens the opportunity for immunotherapeutic approaches based on the presence of tumor antigens and tumor specific immune responses. A number of approaches to immunotherapy have been developed in animal systems and are now being applied to man.