Role of Cell Based Approaches in Cancer Immunotherapy

Abstract

Immunotherapies hold the potential for cancer treatment since their mode of action is distinct to chemo and radiation therapy and largely depends on harnessing body's own immune system. The major advantage associated with cancer immunotherapy is that cell responses are specific to tumor and with low or negligible toxicity. Preclinical and clinical studies have evidenced that modulation of immune system can subvert the immunosuppressive environment under progressive tumor conditions. The modulation can be brought into several ways including infusion of ex-vivo or in-vivo activated antigen presenting cells (dendritic cells), immune checkpoint antibodies, adoptive transfer of T cells, genetically modified T cells, cancer cell vaccines, stem cells, cytokines and others. In this review, we will keep the discussion focused to some of cell based approaches.